Escoda-Sanahuja

Indigo met the charmingly hirsute, hippyish Joan Escoda at a tasting in Madrid, on a stand next to an impeccably dressed Burgundian wine maker. On tasting his Pinot Noir it turned out to be the best we had encountered from Spain. The style of the wines is very pure, so it wasn’t a surprise when we found out that Joan is a committed to biodynamic farming. His winery started in 1997, in Conca de Barberà a DO which is rarely seen on bottles, and has grown from his dream to create naturals wines utilising biodynamic agriculture. He “respects the fruit to the maximum”, his vines grow next to olives and almonds, and also keeps cows, horses, chickens and other assorted poultry, enabling him to meet his compost needs ‘in-house’. Vegetation is left between the rows to encourage biodiversity, and maintain soil moisture in this dry climate. In the winery he uses native yeasts, no fining nor filtration. And since 2007 they have stopped using sulphites. These are highly individual wines reflecting their origins and their innovative winemaker.