Jean Belondrade hadn’t been planning to make red wine. Belondrade enjoys a worldwide reputation for Burgundy-like white wines. And if he had, given his winery is in Rueda (northwest Spain) it might have made more sense logistically to go to Ribera del Duero, or perhaps Rioja. But that wasn’t the way things worked out. Gonzalo Cores, an old friend of Jean’s father, invited the Belondrades to go and view a vineyard on sale – at the other end of northern Spain, in the isolated inland hills of Priorat.

They found an abandoned vineyard, where the vines had not been pruned for years. But the location, the orientation and the amphitheatre shape of the vineyard were perfectly suited to viticulture. As Jean describes that visit, ‘it was a strange feeling between desolation and excitement’. They soon discovered that this vineyard harboured an astonishing diversity of soils. The base of the slope lies on a dry, clay-rich river bed, and is planted with old-vine Carinyena (aka Carignan). The mid-slope sits on limestone soil and is planted with Garnatxa (Garnacha, aka Grenache). The upper slope is also planted with Garnatxa, but on the licorella (slate and quartz) soils iconic in Priorat. The potential of the site for very high-quality wine was too compelling to resist, so they went for it. And so was born Nerinter and their flagship red NerinTerra. It is still early days for this old-vine Priorat project, but the first vintages have been compelling. (NT 24/07/24)