Priorat & Montsant · Spanien
Familia Nin Ortiz
Familia Nin Ortiz farms steep llicorella plots around Porrera in the Priorat, up to 700 metres in altitude, and has worked biodynamically there since its very first vintage. Ester Nin and Carles Ortiz met in 2007 at a seminar on biodynamics, and their first vintage together followed in 2008. Every cork carries the words "Biodynamic since day one." The slopes allow no mechanical work, so Carles Ortiz ploughs with mules instead. Old Garnacha and Cariñena vines yield red wines with cool, vivid fruit, alongside white wines from Cariñena Blanca and Parellada and a sparkling wine made from Chenin Blanc and Marsanne.
Porrera and the llicorella
Porrera lies in the Priorat, and Familia Nin Ortiz's vineyards stretch across slopes of llicorella, the region's black slate, up to 700 metres in altitude. Some of these plots rank among the highest in the Priorat. The soil is iron-rich, and the gradient so steep that mechanical work is out of the question. Carles Ortiz therefore took up a practice no one in Porrera had used since the 1960s, ploughing with mules.
Ester Nin and Carles Ortiz
Ester Nin came to the Priorat from the Penedès, studied oenology in Tarragona and gained her first experience at a winery in the region; she later worked as an oenologist and estate manager, before starting her own project in 2003. Carles Ortiz, as a grape grower, already farmed 18 hectares of vineyard organically. In 2007 the two met at a seminar on biodynamics, and a year later they bottled their first vintage together.
Familia Nin Ortiz belongs to the second generation of the Priorat, the movement that placed freshness and the expression of terroir at its centre, and is a member of La Renaissance des Appellations, an association of biodynamic estates. The wines ferment spontaneously in foudres, demi-muids or amphorae and remain unfined and unfiltered.
Mas d'en Caçador and La Coma d'en Romeu
The Mas d'en Caçador plot faces north on pure slate, with some vines over a hundred years old. Nit de Nin "Mas d'en Caçador" grows there, showing earthy, dark nuances alongside fine herbal notes. It stays cool and light-footed despite its concentration. The second top site, La Coma d'en Romeu, carries seventy-year-old Garnacha and yields a broader, spicier wine.
The Finca Planetes is hardly less impressive. Planetes de Nin, made from Garnacha and Cariñena, puts freshness first, carrying cherry and garrigue alongside a robust note of ripe stems; its tannin is fine to medium-grained and carries through into a long finish. A few years of ageing serve it well.
White vines on slate
Scattered white varieties grow on Porrera's slate slopes, and their share is increasing. For the Planetes Blanc, made from Cariñena Blanca, Familia Nin Ortiz farms 0.9 hectares of 26-year-old vines along with 0.73 hectares of four-year-old plantings, facing southeast to southwest; the wine ages 70 percent in used barrels and 30 percent in concrete tanks, at a controlled temperature. Parellada yields Terra Vermella and Terra Vermella de Nin, as well as Selma, made from Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne and Parellada, and the sparkling wine Selma Ancestral.