Pur Brisat 2022 White

“We have been shifting our focus from red varieties to whites and sparkling wines,” explained Joaquín Gay de Montellá a few days ago during a visit to Torre del Veguer. This magnificent property is dominated by a fortified farmhouse overlooking the sea and is located in Sant Pere de Ribes in the Marina del Garraf sub-area — the coastal side of the vast limestone formation known as Massif del Garraf.

With almost three hectares under vine, Malvasía de Sitges has become the winery's new star, alongside Xarel.lo and Xarel.lo Vermell. The Muscat-à-Petit-Gris is also preserved, as it was the favourite of Joaquín's mother — look out for the nuanced, saline sparkling wine named in her honour: Marta.

Malvasia is a challenging variety to grow being highly susceptible to powdery mildew and prone to vigorous vegetative growth. This is why it is trellised and pruned using the simple guyot method. The deeply lobed leaves and loose, elongated bunches also make it easy to identify in the vineyard.

The winery produces three styles of Malvasia wine. The first is a dry white which highlights the variety's fragrant, fresh character. The most radical is a naturally sweet wine, with all its alcohol and sugar coming from the grapes themselves. Aged under the solera system since 2016, it has yet to be released. Over the years, it has developed complex notes of toasted caramel without losing the variety’s signature fragrance and bright good acidity. The third wine, a brisado fermented with its skins, is the one we want to highlight this week.

Pur Brisat is a natural wine, bottled without fining, filtering or added sulphur. However, the three to four weeks spent under the skins and the variety's high acidity have a preserving effect. Skin contact is particularly interesting for aromatic varieties such as Malvasía, as it produces a bolder -even untamed- version of the grape.

The wine displays the deep hue typical of true orange wines and offers striking aromatic intensity, with plenty of stone fruit, sweet fruit and herbal notes. The palate is vibrant, with noticeable yet restrained tannins, and a pleasant bitterness on the finish. The ripe fruit profile reflects the very warm 2022 growing season, but there is also structure and liveliness to  offset this sensation.

During our visit, we also tasted the 2019 vintage, now sold out, which shows how these wines can evolve. Although the colour was very similar, the aromatic intensity had softened, and the wine had gained finesse. The flavours remained on the stone fruit spectrum, but this time with notes of dried apricot and Mediterranean herbs.

Fragrant and well-structured, these wines could be a refreshing alternative to reds during the hottest weeks of summer.