Joseph Grau Grenache Blanc 2024

Grenache Blanc from Montsant — the Catalan appellation that rings Priorat. Stone fruit, herbs, properly dry. A Mediterranean white that earns its place at the table.

The vines grow around Marçà, in decomposed granite. They are about 25 years old, and every job in the vineyard is done by hand without synthetic sprays. Some parcels are farmed biodynamically. That granite gives the wine its stony, herbal spine.

Josep Grau bought his first vineyard at Capçanes in 2003. He added a seventeenth-century house and six hectares at Gratallops in Priorat in 2016. His stated aim is wine without artifice. For this white the fruit is picked by hand, destemmed and pressed, then fermented in a 1,900 litre concrete egg. It rests in that same egg for seven months before bottling, with no oak in the picture.

The producer's own note runs apple, pear, white flowers and fennel over a citrus base. Serve it cold with grilled fish, anchovies or a plate of roast vegetables.