Joan d'Anguera 2021 Montsant 'Altaroses'
Pairs with: A fig and prosciutto flatbread, grilled lamb kofta with tzatziki, spicy Moroccan merguez sausages, roasted duck breast, or a rustic charcuterie board piled high with jamón serrano and aged sheep's milk cheeses.
Good for: Introducing a Pinot Noir or Cru Beaujolais devotee to the ethereal, fluid side of Spanish winemaking; impressing a wine enthusiast with a pristine, low-intervention biodynamic gem; or enjoying a red that prioritizes refreshing elegance and transparency over heavy, high-alcohol oak extraction.
Grape: 100% Garnatxa (Grenache).
I am from: Darmós, Montsant, Catalonia, Spain (Sourced from estate vineyards rooted in limestone-rich clay and calcareous sandy soils).
The Story: Cellers Joan d'Anguera is a spectacular tale of multi-generational heritage, a radical creative rebellion, and a profound return to agricultural truth. Nestled in the village of Darmós within the Montsant appellation—the rugged ring of hills that completely encircles the famous Priorat—the family estate has been cultivating vines since 1820. For over a century, they sold their fruit to local cooperatives until the current owners' father became the very first in the area to bottle his own wine in 1984. When brothers Josep and Joan d'Anguera eventually took the reins, they initially followed the dominant global trends of the 1990s and 2000s, crafting big, powerful, highly extracted reds that garnered massive critic scores but lacked a true sense of place.
Realizing that these oak-heavy blockbusters didn't match their personal love for the traditional, fluid wines of the past, the brothers made a daring, absolute U-turn. They threw out the modern industrial playbook, transitioned the entire 24-hectare estate to strict organic and certified biodynamic farming (achieving full certification in 2012), and fundamentally shifted their winemaking style toward lightness and transparency.
To craft "Altaroses," their highly personal village cuvée, Josep and Joan source Garnatxa from vines ranging from 10 to 40 years old. In the cellar, the whole grape clusters undergo a patient, spontaneous fermentation with wild native yeasts inside large concrete vats, often utilizing traditional foot-crushing. To ensure the delicate, floral voice of the sandy limestone soils is never muffled, the wine entirely avoids new oak, aging peacefully in old, neutral barrels and concrete tanks. Bottled unfined and unfiltered with little to no added sulfur, it is a beautifully naked, living testament to the elegant new wave of Spanish viticulture.
Why You'll Love Me: It is incredibly bright, highly perfumed, and texturally fluid—a light-to-medium-bodied red that completely redefines what Mediterranean Grenache can be. In the glass, it pours an alluring, translucent ruby-pink color that almost resembles a dark rosé, instantly signaling its elegant, un-extracted style. The nose is a spectacularly expressive and fragrant playground, bursting with a vibrant bouquet of fresh wild strawberries, crunchy red cherries, and wild raspberries, seamlessly woven with complex undertones of lavender, dried Mediterranean herbs (garrigue), white pepper, and a subtle whisper of star anise. On the palate, it hits with a gorgeous, athletic energy. There is zero heavy wood or sweet, jammy weight here; instead, the core of juicy red mountain fruits glides effortlessly across the tongue, supported by remarkably fine-grained, chalky tannins and a mouthwatering beam of natural acidity. It pulls into a long, beautifully dry finish highlighted by a refreshing, savory trail of crushed stone and field herbs.
