Sant Antoni

When winemaker Ricard Rofes joined Scala Dei he set about tasting as many back vintages as he could to understand the history of the wine style. Upon tasting a complete vertical set from 1974 to the present day he found that those produced before the arrival of modern technology were more balanced, had aged more gracefully and were generally just better wines. In order to replicate this he did away with all the technology in the winery, bringing back concrete vats and removing the shiny stainless steel. To this day he insists that the only tech he uses is temperature control when absolutely necessary! True minimal intervention and absolute respect to the heritage of these magnificent wines! With this wine, Scala Dei wanted to revive the Priorat winemaking heritage, which takes them back to the first bottlings of Cellers de Scala Dei. They researched the way the wines from the 1970s were made and followed suit with this Sant Antoni. They picked during the first week of October, in small boxes and crushed the grapes but did not de-stem them prior to fermentation. This took place in a small, 3500-L (925 US gal) cement tank. No yeast was added and the wine fermented of its own free will, with the typical temperature peaks of the past. The wine was pressed inside the tank. Aged for 14 months in a used 1400-L (370 US gal) foudre