2021 Nin-Ortiz Terra Vermella
| Type of Wine | |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | |
| Winery | |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Grape | , , , |
| Content (Alc) | 0.75 ltr (12%) |
| Drink window | 2024 - 2030 |
In stock
6 items available
Description
Ester Nin and Carles Ortiz are the proud owners of this tiny wine estate with vineyards in Porrera and Torroja and in Gratallops. Ester is an oenologist and biologist and originally comes from the higher part of the Penedès, in El Pla de Manlleu. Carles is responsible for the vineyard, together with his mules Negret and Max. Ester is best known for her work as oenologist of Clos Erasmus in Gratallops and of NUN, the top white wine of Enric Soler in the Penedès, of which she vinified the first vintages. In all her projects she resolutely opts for biodynamics.
This Terra Vermella is currently the only wine made from the Montanega grape variety, a variant of Parellada, originating from the slopes of Selma (El Pla de Manlleu), a deserted mountain village located in the Montmell Mountains in Catalonia. It is a project of Ester Nin and her brother, who come from El Pla de Manlleu. The subsoil is a mixture of red clay and stones, hence the name of the wine 'Terra Vermella' or 'red earth'. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically. An exceptional and very rare wine with a varietal and Mediterranean identity. Cult.
Terra Vermella comes from a one-hectare vineyard planted in a clay-limestone soil in which the mixture of red clay and stones gives a very peculiar color. Hence the name of the wine Terra Vermella, which in Catalan means red earth. Biodynamic agriculture is practiced with herbal teas made from plant extracts and mineral sulfur, taking into account the phases of the moon in each process. In the glass, Terra Vermella is gray towards rosé in color in the glass. It looks a bit like an orange wine. However, this is due to the skin of the Montanega. In the nose very spicy and Mediterranean with some gooseberry and a light touch of apple and pear. Nice minerality in the mouth, elegant (12%) and not too firm. Fresh aftertaste. 1,300 bottles made.
Specifications
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Catalunya |
| Winery | Nin-Ortiz |
| Grape | Chenin Blanc, Marsanne, Parellada, Roussanne |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Drinking as of | 2024 |
| Drinking till | 2030 |
| Alcohol % | 12 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 95 |
| Tasting Profiles | Aromatisch, Bloemig, Droog, Fruitig, Kruidig, Rijk, Rond, Wit fruit |
| Drink moments | Borrelen, Cadeau!, Met vrienden, Open haard, Summer party, Terras, Voor alledag |
Professional Reviews
Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP 95
Reviewed by:
Luis Gutiérrez
Release Price:
$70
Drink Date:
2023 - 2029
2019 is a more concentrated and riper year, but the 2019 Terra Vermella felt fresher and more vibrant in the palate than the 2018 I tasted next to it, despite 2018 being a cooler year and both wines having similar alcohol (12%). The wine has the classical slightly closed and faintly reductive personality with notes of toasted sesame seeds, gunpowder, smoke and flint, a little à la Coche-Dury/Leflaive or some German Rieslings, with some diesel-like, mineral hints that are always present in this wine, even if some vintages develop it sooner than others and in some is stronger than in others. It's tasty, complex and has a long, dry finish. Parellada is informally known as the 9/9 variety, as it can have 9% alcohol and nine grams of acidity. But through viticulture, they manage to achieve 12% alcohol and lower acidity (6.5), and the wine comes through as very complex. 2,805 bottles produced.
The Nin-Ortiz family have built their winery in their Planetes Vineyard in the limit between Falset and Porrera. When the whites are harvested, they keep the boxes with the bunches in a cold storage for one or two days, then press the bunches and let the must settle, and then they fill the barrels the next day. They started experimenting with some skin contact in 2019 (one barrel) and continued with a little more in the following vintages, varying the length of the maceration; they started with five and went up to 15, and then the wines are in barrel for eight months. They use barrels from different coopers and ages. The reds are produced in different ways, but all the old vines are 100% full clusters; the young-vine Garnacha is destemmed and Cariñena is also full cluster. Each parcel has its fermentation vat, the young one in stainless steel and the rest in oak. Indigenous yeasts are used with all the wines, and they us as little sulfur as possible. All their vineyards are certified organic and they don't buy any grapes, but they don't have the seals for the certifications, because it's a lot of paperwork (and money!). They are in the process of getting Cariñena Blanca approved for the Priorat appellation. 2020 was the year of mildew (700 liters of rain!), but they "only" lost 25% of the crop by working a lot in the vineyard; it's a year they say they'll never forget. For them, 2020 is not a warm year; the skins were perfect and the wines were super aromatic from the day they started fermenting in the winery. For them, it's an exceptional vintage, the most Burgundian vintage since they started. 2019 was a warm year, a classical vintage that resulted in more powerful wines, but a heat wave in August burned some grapes (15% of loss), and it affected Cariñena more than Garnacha. And the same plants that were affected by the heat wave were also more affected by the mildew, and it also had a more devastating result on Cariñena than on Garnacha. In 2021 they had 70 centimeters of rain in January, so the vines had water and were rested and there was a huge crop. The summer was dry, but at the end of August, it started raining . . . and the grapes wouldn't ripen. Alcohol levels were down and many asked the appellation to lower the requested limit of 13% in whites 13.5% in reds . . . but they wouldn't allow it. The wines have more acidity and lower alcohol and should age nicely. They work in Priorat and in the Pla de Manlleu zone of Penedès, where Nin is from (but there without appellation of origin), and this is how they introduce themselves: "We only work with our own vineyards and bottle by parcels, to preserve the identity of the place and soils. We do not buy grapes, in order to guarantee that all our wines are made with 100% certified organic grapes. We are part of 'La Renaissance des Appellations' as a qualitative seal of biodynamic viticulture, in order to obtain healthy grapes without residues, which allows us to make spontaneous fermentations without adding SO2 during the fermentation."
The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by:
Luis Gutiérrez
Release Price:
$70
Drink Date:
2023 - 2028
They also had a lot of mildew at the Pla de Manlleu in 2020, but they did the same as in Priorat, working a lot more in the vineyard to prevent it. The result is that they got grapes to produce the 2020 Terra Vermella when most people lost the crop. It has a complex and developed nose with notes of herbs and a hint of petrol, less reductive than other years. It has a moderate 11% alcohol with a pH of 3.24 and 3.91 grams of acidity; it was a very rainy year, and the wines are more elegant and fresher. 1,860 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2022.
Carles Ortiz and Ester Nin produce 30,000 bottles, 100% of them with grapes from their own vineyards. All of their vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic, but they still don't have the certification for the wines.
2021 was an atypical year, with a big snowstorm in January, a cooler year but not as much as 2013, 2010 or 2018, and they said it was a more Mediterranean version of 2020. They harvested late, the alcohol was lower (they had some difficulties to achieve the minimum alcohol required by the appellation in some wines), and the wines are fresher but the ripeness was good (looking at the polyphenols and so on).
There will be a new Garnacha from young vines in La Coma d'en Romeu. They have been planting small plots (and replacing dead vines) in their old vineyards, a trend that I see in many producers as they have to get ready for the future; if you want old vines in 50 years from now, you have to plant them now! They are also extremely worried about the lack of water and have dug a well in their Planetes vineyard that gives them very little water, but at least it's something.
Unfortunately, Cariñena Blanca, the white mutation of Cariñena, is still not approved by the Priorat appellation, mainly because it's a grape that delivers wines with moderate alcohol—a blessing in the warm climate, a grape resistant to drought and pat for the climate change—usually below what the appellation requires (13% for whites). They had applied for an exception to this rule for the wines produced with Cariñena Blanca to be allowed at 12.5% alcohol, but it was rejected. So, after 11 vintages, their white is still an experimental wine.
Published: May 16, 2024
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Ester Nin and Carles Ortiz are the proud owners of this tiny wine estate with vineyards in Porrera and Torroja, and Gratallops. Ester is an oenologist and biologist originally from the higher part of the Penedès, in El Pla de Manlleu. Carles is in charge of the vineyard, along with his mules Negret and Max. Ester is best known for her work as an oenologist of Clos Erasmus in Gratallops and of NUN, the top white wine of Enric Soler in the Penedès, of which she vinified the first vintages. In all her projects, she resolutely opts for biodynamics.
In 2004, she bought a small plot of land with just over 1 ha of vineyard, Mas d'en Caçador: a steep slope high above the road from Porrera to Torroja. 2004 was also the first harvest of its own wine (barely one barrique), the Nit de Nin, which immediately gained cult status and monster scores. In the early years, it was just Garnatxa and Carinyena. For the Nit de Nin this is 60% Garnatxa Peluda and for the Planetes 70% Garnatxa País. The Garnatxa Peluda is mixed with old Carinyena planted on steep slopes (costers). The Planetes vineyards (5 ha) consist of 4 ha Garnatxa on terraces and 1ha Carinyena on a steep slope. The new canes that have been planted are clones that have taken themselves from old Carinyena. In the meantime, several almost extinct cépages have been added to the portfolio. The native white Montanega, which is a variant of the Parellada, for the Terra Vermella. Ester's other white crown jewel is the Selma de Nin, originating from Penedès, more specifically the village of Selma, where an elevated parcel of the family is bombarded with Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Xarello.
All vineyards are biodynamically worked with the help of two mules and are located on pure llicorella (slate) spread over:
Mas d'en Caçador, three small vineyards on steep slopes (costers), with orientation north-east, north-west, between 400 and 650 m altitudes. This is one of the highest vineyards in Priorat, seen from the road between Porrera and Torroja.
Planetes: llicorella with a lot of iron oxide called ferral, much harder than regular llicorella. The new vineyards (between 5 and 13 years old) are planted on terraces and part on old 'costers' (Carinyena), visible from the road between Falset and Porrera.
Coma d'en Romeu: Grand cru vineyard covered with 75 years old Garnacha at an altitude of 350 m. Ilicorella and southern orientation.
La Rodeda: Located near Mas d'en Cacador with 80-year-old Garnatxa Peluda at an altitude of 700 m. Here too llicorella is the main soil component.
Selma de Nin: Located at an altitude of 750 meters with a limestone subsoil and a limited amount of clay.
Terra Vermella: The "red grounds" is the literal translation of the name of this white wine. The subsoil here consists mainly of ferruginous clay mixed with stones at an altitude of 550 m.
Only indigenous yeasts are used with an absolute minimum of sulfur. An extensive selection, in which all the overripe grapes are removed, ensures elegant and mineral wines. One page a day, manual and gentle. Then 18 months élevage in French oak barrels, 1/3 new.
The Planetes is selected in the same way. Fermentation and élevage for 12 to 14 months take place in 3000-liter French oak conical foeders and partly in Nit de Nin barriques from the previous year. Over the years, Ester has been omitting more and more barrique in favor of amphorae and large foeders. In the meantime, the couple has managed to build a small, functional bodega integrated into the vineyards. The harvest year 2020 is the first vintage that was vinified here.
Ester Nin and Carles Ortiz are the proud owners of this tiny wine estate with vineyards in Porrera and Torroja and in Gratallops. Ester is an oenologist and biologist and originally comes from the higher part of the Penedès, in El Pla de Manlleu. Carles is responsible for the vineyard, together with his mules Negret and Max. Ester is best known for her work as oenologist of Clos Erasmus in Gratallops and of NUN, the top white wine of Enric Soler in the Penedès, of which she vinified the first vintages. In all her projects she resolutely opts for biodynamics.
This Terra Vermella is currently the only wine made from the Montanega grape variety, a variant of Parellada, originating from the slopes of Selma (El Pla de Manlleu), a deserted mountain village located in the Montmell Mountains in Catalonia. It is a project of Ester Nin and her brother, who come from El Pla de Manlleu. The subsoil is a mixture of red clay and stones, hence the name of the wine 'Terra Vermella' or 'red earth'. The vineyards are farmed biodynamically. An exceptional and very rare wine with a varietal and Mediterranean identity. Cult.
Terra Vermella comes from a one-hectare vineyard planted in a clay-limestone soil in which the mixture of red clay and stones gives a very peculiar color. Hence the name of the wine Terra Vermella, which in Catalan means red earth. Biodynamic agriculture is practiced with herbal teas made from plant extracts and mineral sulfur, taking into account the phases of the moon in each process. In the glass, Terra Vermella is gray towards rosé in color in the glass. It looks a bit like an orange wine. However, this is due to the skin of the Montanega. In the nose very spicy and Mediterranean with some gooseberry and a light touch of apple and pear. Nice minerality in the mouth, elegant (12%) and not too firm. Fresh aftertaste. 1,300 bottles made.
| Type of Wine | White |
|---|---|
| Country | Spain |
| Region | Catalunya |
| Winery | Nin-Ortiz |
| Grape | Chenin Blanc, Marsanne, Parellada, Roussanne |
| Biological certified | No |
| Natural wine | No |
| Vegan | No |
| Vintage | 2021 |
| Drinking as of | 2024 |
| Drinking till | 2030 |
| Alcohol % | 12 |
| Alcohol free/low | No |
| Content | 0.75 ltr |
| Oak aging | Yes |
| Sparkling | No |
| Dessert wine | No |
| Closure | Cork |
| Parker rating | 95 |
| Tasting Profiles | Aromatisch, Bloemig, Droog, Fruitig, Kruidig, Rijk, Rond, Wit fruit |
| Drink moments | Borrelen, Cadeau!, Met vrienden, Open haard, Summer party, Terras, Voor alledag |
Parker
The Wine Advocate
RP 95
Reviewed by:
Luis Gutiérrez
Release Price:
$70
Drink Date:
2023 - 2029
2019 is a more concentrated and riper year, but the 2019 Terra Vermella felt fresher and more vibrant in the palate than the 2018 I tasted next to it, despite 2018 being a cooler year and both wines having similar alcohol (12%). The wine has the classical slightly closed and faintly reductive personality with notes of toasted sesame seeds, gunpowder, smoke and flint, a little à la Coche-Dury/Leflaive or some German Rieslings, with some diesel-like, mineral hints that are always present in this wine, even if some vintages develop it sooner than others and in some is stronger than in others. It's tasty, complex and has a long, dry finish. Parellada is informally known as the 9/9 variety, as it can have 9% alcohol and nine grams of acidity. But through viticulture, they manage to achieve 12% alcohol and lower acidity (6.5), and the wine comes through as very complex. 2,805 bottles produced.
The Nin-Ortiz family have built their winery in their Planetes Vineyard in the limit between Falset and Porrera. When the whites are harvested, they keep the boxes with the bunches in a cold storage for one or two days, then press the bunches and let the must settle, and then they fill the barrels the next day. They started experimenting with some skin contact in 2019 (one barrel) and continued with a little more in the following vintages, varying the length of the maceration; they started with five and went up to 15, and then the wines are in barrel for eight months. They use barrels from different coopers and ages. The reds are produced in different ways, but all the old vines are 100% full clusters; the young-vine Garnacha is destemmed and Cariñena is also full cluster. Each parcel has its fermentation vat, the young one in stainless steel and the rest in oak. Indigenous yeasts are used with all the wines, and they us as little sulfur as possible. All their vineyards are certified organic and they don't buy any grapes, but they don't have the seals for the certifications, because it's a lot of paperwork (and money!). They are in the process of getting Cariñena Blanca approved for the Priorat appellation. 2020 was the year of mildew (700 liters of rain!), but they "only" lost 25% of the crop by working a lot in the vineyard; it's a year they say they'll never forget. For them, 2020 is not a warm year; the skins were perfect and the wines were super aromatic from the day they started fermenting in the winery. For them, it's an exceptional vintage, the most Burgundian vintage since they started. 2019 was a warm year, a classical vintage that resulted in more powerful wines, but a heat wave in August burned some grapes (15% of loss), and it affected Cariñena more than Garnacha. And the same plants that were affected by the heat wave were also more affected by the mildew, and it also had a more devastating result on Cariñena than on Garnacha. In 2021 they had 70 centimeters of rain in January, so the vines had water and were rested and there was a huge crop. The summer was dry, but at the end of August, it started raining . . . and the grapes wouldn't ripen. Alcohol levels were down and many asked the appellation to lower the requested limit of 13% in whites 13.5% in reds . . . but they wouldn't allow it. The wines have more acidity and lower alcohol and should age nicely. They work in Priorat and in the Pla de Manlleu zone of Penedès, where Nin is from (but there without appellation of origin), and this is how they introduce themselves: "We only work with our own vineyards and bottle by parcels, to preserve the identity of the place and soils. We do not buy grapes, in order to guarantee that all our wines are made with 100% certified organic grapes. We are part of 'La Renaissance des Appellations' as a qualitative seal of biodynamic viticulture, in order to obtain healthy grapes without residues, which allows us to make spontaneous fermentations without adding SO2 during the fermentation."
The Wine Advocate
RP 94
Reviewed by:
Luis Gutiérrez
Release Price:
$70
Drink Date:
2023 - 2028
They also had a lot of mildew at the Pla de Manlleu in 2020, but they did the same as in Priorat, working a lot more in the vineyard to prevent it. The result is that they got grapes to produce the 2020 Terra Vermella when most people lost the crop. It has a complex and developed nose with notes of herbs and a hint of petrol, less reductive than other years. It has a moderate 11% alcohol with a pH of 3.24 and 3.91 grams of acidity; it was a very rainy year, and the wines are more elegant and fresher. 1,860 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2022.
Carles Ortiz and Ester Nin produce 30,000 bottles, 100% of them with grapes from their own vineyards. All of their vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic, but they still don't have the certification for the wines.
2021 was an atypical year, with a big snowstorm in January, a cooler year but not as much as 2013, 2010 or 2018, and they said it was a more Mediterranean version of 2020. They harvested late, the alcohol was lower (they had some difficulties to achieve the minimum alcohol required by the appellation in some wines), and the wines are fresher but the ripeness was good (looking at the polyphenols and so on).
There will be a new Garnacha from young vines in La Coma d'en Romeu. They have been planting small plots (and replacing dead vines) in their old vineyards, a trend that I see in many producers as they have to get ready for the future; if you want old vines in 50 years from now, you have to plant them now! They are also extremely worried about the lack of water and have dug a well in their Planetes vineyard that gives them very little water, but at least it's something.
Unfortunately, Cariñena Blanca, the white mutation of Cariñena, is still not approved by the Priorat appellation, mainly because it's a grape that delivers wines with moderate alcohol—a blessing in the warm climate, a grape resistant to drought and pat for the climate change—usually below what the appellation requires (13% for whites). They had applied for an exception to this rule for the wines produced with Cariñena Blanca to be allowed at 12.5% alcohol, but it was rejected. So, after 11 vintages, their white is still an experimental wine.
Published: May 16, 2024
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua...
Exclusive Content
Sign in to unlock professional wine reviews from world-renowned critics
Ester Nin and Carles Ortiz are the proud owners of this tiny wine estate with vineyards in Porrera and Torroja, and Gratallops. Ester is an oenologist and biologist originally from the higher part of the Penedès, in El Pla de Manlleu. Carles is in charge of the vineyard, along with his mules Negret and Max. Ester is best known for her work as an oenologist of Clos Erasmus in Gratallops and of NUN, the top white wine of Enric Soler in the Penedès, of which she vinified the first vintages. In all her projects, she resolutely opts for biodynamics.
In 2004, she bought a small plot of land with just over 1 ha of vineyard, Mas d'en Caçador: a steep slope high above the road from Porrera to Torroja. 2004 was also the first harvest of its own wine (barely one barrique), the Nit de Nin, which immediately gained cult status and monster scores. In the early years, it was just Garnatxa and Carinyena. For the Nit de Nin this is 60% Garnatxa Peluda and for the Planetes 70% Garnatxa País. The Garnatxa Peluda is mixed with old Carinyena planted on steep slopes (costers). The Planetes vineyards (5 ha) consist of 4 ha Garnatxa on terraces and 1ha Carinyena on a steep slope. The new canes that have been planted are clones that have taken themselves from old Carinyena. In the meantime, several almost extinct cépages have been added to the portfolio. The native white Montanega, which is a variant of the Parellada, for the Terra Vermella. Ester's other white crown jewel is the Selma de Nin, originating from Penedès, more specifically the village of Selma, where an elevated parcel of the family is bombarded with Chenin Blanc, Roussanne, Marsanne, and Xarello.
All vineyards are biodynamically worked with the help of two mules and are located on pure llicorella (slate) spread over:
Mas d'en Caçador, three small vineyards on steep slopes (costers), with orientation north-east, north-west, between 400 and 650 m altitudes. This is one of the highest vineyards in Priorat, seen from the road between Porrera and Torroja.
Planetes: llicorella with a lot of iron oxide called ferral, much harder than regular llicorella. The new vineyards (between 5 and 13 years old) are planted on terraces and part on old 'costers' (Carinyena), visible from the road between Falset and Porrera.
Coma d'en Romeu: Grand cru vineyard covered with 75 years old Garnacha at an altitude of 350 m. Ilicorella and southern orientation.
La Rodeda: Located near Mas d'en Cacador with 80-year-old Garnatxa Peluda at an altitude of 700 m. Here too llicorella is the main soil component.
Selma de Nin: Located at an altitude of 750 meters with a limestone subsoil and a limited amount of clay.
Terra Vermella: The "red grounds" is the literal translation of the name of this white wine. The subsoil here consists mainly of ferruginous clay mixed with stones at an altitude of 550 m.
Only indigenous yeasts are used with an absolute minimum of sulfur. An extensive selection, in which all the overripe grapes are removed, ensures elegant and mineral wines. One page a day, manual and gentle. Then 18 months élevage in French oak barrels, 1/3 new.
The Planetes is selected in the same way. Fermentation and élevage for 12 to 14 months take place in 3000-liter French oak conical foeders and partly in Nit de Nin barriques from the previous year. Over the years, Ester has been omitting more and more barrique in favor of amphorae and large foeders. In the meantime, the couple has managed to build a small, functional bodega integrated into the vineyards. The harvest year 2020 is the first vintage that was vinified here.