EN 
DE 
FR 
IT Showing all 5 results
Vins Nus
The labels give it away immediately: Calder mobiles, kinetic sculptures that are moved by the wind. At Vins Nus - in Catalan „naked wines“ - is all about movement and renunciation. Alfredo Arribas, an architect from Barcelona, has created a counter-programme to the massive Priorat here in Montsant. No extraction, hardly any wood, zero sulphur. What remains is acidity as a backbone and terroir as a statement.
More about Vins Nus
The architect who undresses wines
When Alfredo Arribas returned to Catalonia for a building project at the end of the 1990s, he discovered the Priorat. The multidisciplinary architect from Barcelona first bought the winery Clos del Portal and set out in search of grapes for his top wine „Tros de Clos“. He came across something unexpected in the cooler, north-western Montsant: Vineyards at over 700 metres, surrounded by the nature park, where the nights stay cool even in the height of summer.
This altitude changed his idea of Catalan wine. Up here, where the acidity is naturally preserved, he didn't need any tricks. No wood to give structure, no sulphurisation to stabilise. Just amphorae, patience and trust in the grapes. This is how the 2005 Vins Nus - Wines that are defined more by absence than by addition.
SiurAlta: Where the air gets thin
The name reveals the philosophy: SiurAlta - of Serra Alta, the high mountains. The vineyards near Cornudella del Montsant and Siurana lie between 700 and 820 metres, on yellow clay soils with a northern exposure. Old vines grow here Grenache-Vines in traditional Gobelet pruning, some over 40 years old. The yields are tiny, the concentration enormous - but the altitude keeps everything fresh and lively.
The Siuralta Orange shows what this vineyard can do: Grenache Gris, a grey-orange mutation of the red Grenache, is matured in amphorae after a short maceration. The result is terpinous, almost oxidative flavour, with an acidity reminiscent of mountain air. Similar to the Siuralta GrisLight and airy with only 13% alcohol, with a pH of 3.0 - values that one would rather expect in Burgundy.
InStabile: Wines in free fall
While the SiurAlta wines seek terroir precision, the InStable series the exact opposite: total freedom. No vintage thinking, no grape variety purism, no rules except one - no sulphur, ever. The wines have numbers instead of names, with alternating Latin subtitles: „In Albis“, „Mea Culpa“, „Alter Ego“.
The Unstable Brisat No. 3 In Albis about is produced from mash-fermented white grapes - „brisat“ means mash contact. The result is a wine that continues to change for hours after the bottle is opened. Mobile, shape-changing, like the Calder sculptures on the label. If you're looking for stability, you're in the wrong place. If you want lively generosity, you're in the right place.
Nudity as a principle
Vins Nus produces Wines with more absences than additionspractically no wood, no extraction, no added alcohol, no manipulated colour. What remains is the essence of Montsant - altitude, clay, old vines, cool nights. The wines are not a copy of the neighbouring Priorat, but its antithesis: lightness instead of power, acidity instead of tannin, movement instead of monumentality.
For Alfredo Arribas, this closes a circle. The architect, who designs spaces, has learnt to leave out rather than add when it comes to wine. The „naked wines“ show what happens when you trust the terroir - and no one else.