Jaume Prats Met 2021

Type: Orange
Producer: Envinate
Country: Spain
Region: La Mancha
Grape: Manto Negro, Fogoneu, Callet, Malvasia, Prensal and Moscato

Year: 2021
Farming: Organic

90% mixed red grapes (Mantonegro, Fogoneu, Callet), 10% white grapes (Prensal and Moscatel). From a single plot of organically farmed vines near Felantix, planted on calcareous clay soils at 100m elevation. The vines are 50 years old. The grapes were harvested by hand, then fermented with the stems and skins for 5 days in neutral polyethylene vat before pressing to rest on the lees for 6 months in stainless steel tank. Bottled without fining, filtering or sulfur addition and aged an additional 8 months in bottle before release.

Jaume Prats is Mallorquin, and after time learning about wine and winemaking in Catalunya returned to his native Mallorca to work with and recuperate some old vineyard plots of indigenous vines in the island’s interior. These plots are characteristic of the traditional viticultural methods of the island - they are made up of mixed varieties, mostly planted on the island’s red iron-rich clay soils (known as Call Vermell) and some had suffered abandonment. Plots like this are rare: much of the vineyard land in Mallorca was replanted to international varieties in the 1990s, so old vines of Mantonegro and other local varieties are treasures. Now, Jaume is working with more parcels that have a similar character. Inspired by his work with Alella’s Oriol Artigas, he focuses on the direct expression of the places that he works with, fermenting different varieties together, working without oak or sulfur, and producing tiny quantities of parcel-focused wines.