UNFINISHED BUSINESS 2023

PROJECT AND GAMEPLAN

For our second vintage, we concluded that Suc Suc required a white wine to compliment our portfolio of bottlings, until now, well, just a red. This project was decided far in advance and formally agreed upon by both parties (Suc 1 and Suc 2).

It was not until about halfway through August – in other words, too late in the game –  that we started to source white grapes from around the rest of the Terra Alta. (Praise be that Francesc from Celler Frisach answered our call!)

Thus, the gameplan was formalized: he would advise us and harvest when the grapes hit 12,5% by volume in probable alcohol, and we would subsequently go pick them up and press directly into stainless steel.

CASE STUDY

You know by now that the wine at hand is NOT a 12,5%,  juicy-but-fresh white banger. Along the way, the order of business changed. In what ways? And why? The conclusions we came to regarding the circumstances of operations were the following:

• It was too damn hot outside. We got the call re: 12,5% in the middle of the late August heat wave (around the 22nd), with daily highs of 38-41ºC. Alright – so we go for it. But between one thing and another, 48 hours later, when we picked up our grapes – that 12,5% probable alcohol was no longer just 12,5%, but much higher. They call it “probable” for a reason.
• It was too damn hot inside (the cellar). We work out of an old chicken coop – no isolation and no respite. And our one little point of air conditioning was not going to cut it. Going for a direct press white, without using any additives or giving the wine any other natural antioxidants, was just asking for it to turn quickly into vinegar. So, we pivoted, deciding on a semi-carbonic with stem inclusion to bring down the temperature of fermentation and strengthen with tannins. Orange by necessity, not necessarily by design.

In conclusion, we had not counted on the one thing we know in our bones to be true: it’s too damn hot in August in southern Catalunya to harvest and process white grapes without the proper installations. This is why the traditional, homemade “white” wines of Terra Alta were always known to be strong AF, and basically orange (vins “brisats”).

PROCESS AND EXECUTION

Having reevaluated the situation, we commenced a semi-carbonic maceration of the white grapes on August 22nd and pressed them off the skins on August 27th.

This was achieved through a long foot-stomping process, as we were used to through our previous experience with red grapes. We also hoped to free up extra juice in this manner so as to not overwhelm for the dinky manual press that only fit 100L or so (itself a stopgap solution that we forced to implement due to the early start of our harvest).

Once we had stomped the shit out of it and pressed what we could from every last precious grape, we racked the juice into stainless steel, and let it be. A few weeks later it had fermented to dry.

RESULTS & ANALYSIS

When we returned to Arnes some months later to examine the results of the project, we encountered the literal opposite of the wine that we had first set out to make.

It’s a strong-willed, wily, wary, picky, power-top of an orange. It has a big body, big alcohol, and a big character. It will strong-arm you in the boardroom into giving it what it wants at all costs, and somehow, you’ll feel like it was all your idea?

Don’t get us wrong: we love it for what it is. The oxidative notes of dried fruits and nuts, probably from all that stomping we did back at harvest, work alongside the high alcohol to make it into a non-fortified, dry, facsimile of a port wine or sherry. Everything works together well. But careful busting it out when you want something more demure.

Listen: everyone wants orange wine nowadays. You want orange? Well, here you have it, unabashedly. It’s got Unfinished Business with you – and it’s going to let you know about it.

Meanwhile, we have Unfinished Business with that wimpy poolside white we had hoped to make. Stay tuned for next year, folks. As always: we’re always learning.