This winery goes back to 1820 when the d'Anguera ancestors started to make wine at the family home in the village of Darmós, 60 kilometres west of Tarragona. Joan d'Anguera started bottling under his own brand in 1989, when he introduced Syrah to the region to overcome the bad image of local varieties at that time.
After he passed away in 2000, sons Josep and Joan -the seventh d'Anguera generation- took over the project. Their vigneron approach represents a new direction and is based on making wines solely from their own vineyards. Both brothers want to make wines which reflect the local landscape and terroir, hence the return to local varieties and the Demeter-certified conversion to biodynamics. The addition of SO2 upon reception of the harvested grapes was stopped in 2013; it is only used during the aging process and before bottling in order that total SO2 content does not go beyond 70 gr/l. They prefer to painstakingly work the vineyard rather than tinkering with their wines.
Their 24 hectares under vine are spread across four vineyards: L’Argatà, La Planella, El Mas de Pedret and El Tancat. Their entry level wines are Joan d'Anguera (€7) with equal parts of Grenache and Syrah, and Planella (€10), a blend of Carignan and Syrah which occasionally includes some Grenache. Worthy of note are Altarroses (€12), a 100% Grenache from northern facing vines planted on chalk-clay soils; and the juicy and pure Finca l'Argatà, which will be made exclusively with Grenache from the 2013 vintage instead of adding some Syrah, as it was made until that date. Vinification with stems is also in place for both labels. The range is completed with Bugader (€39), a single varietal Syrah coming from a plot within L'Argatà and the late-harvest Grenache Joan d’Anguera d’Or, a lightly sweet, unfortified rancio (€30 for 50cl.) matured oxidatively in chestnut barrels and old family soleras.
