2020 Partida Creus 'GB' Garnatxa Blanca
Creus' 100% Garnatxa Blanca (White Grenache) is from abandoned vineyards that were returned to life. The wine is is slightly oxidative and has some light skin contact, providing nutty complexity alongside bright pear and citrus peel.
Partida Creus is a small traditional winery that produces a limited quantity of high-end very original wines made with organically grown grapes. The initiative was started in 2007 by a couple of Italian architects from the Piedmont region, Antonella Gerosa and Massimo Marchiori, who, seeking a complete reversal in their lives, relocated to the quiet village of Bonastre. There they refurbished an old agricultural building, converting it into a cellar, a project conducted with recycled materials and solid structures. Members and producers of Slow Food, since 2004 they have been engaged in the recovery and preservation of Bonastre’s viniculture heritage in the Baix Penedès region. Tasks in the vineyard are shared with Orazio and Vincenza, a donkey and a mare that help them practice a traditional environmentally friendly philosophy.
The name is a reference to the crosses used to separate holdings back in the day. Massimo Marchiori and Antonella Gerona are an Italian couple from Piedmont. Both are architects who initially moved to Barcelona for that reason. Around the year 2000, they had had enough of the big city, and they moved out to the country in search of a “slower” lifestyle. They settled in the Massís de Bonastre in the Baix Penedés. There they started farming all kinds of local foodstuffs but had trouble finding wines made in the same style, so they started making their own, recovering old vines of local grape varietals. In most cases, the vineyards were close to abandoned. Whenever they find a new vineyard, they will go to the nearby town, find out who the owner is and approach them to buy or at least farm the vineyard, organically of course. People think they are crazy for doing this as they are very old, low yielding vineyards and in most cases, obsolete grape varietals. Some have been disqualified from D.O. for lack of colour, as was the case with Sumoll, others were never even accepted. Now they are known as the crazy Italians making incredible natural wines with the grapes that all of the locals had written off in exchange for the more “international” varietals.
