Bulk wine

We were talking about the possibility of snow in Barcelona with the joy of the unaccustomed, of those who have a home, of those who can miss a day of work and the world doesn't fall apart (as it does, for example, if you don't go to milk the cows one morning). But where it has snowed is in Priorat and the snow has caused part of the roof of the Vall Llach winery to collapse. Where the damage occurred (how sad it makes me to use such aseptic language to talk about this) there were aging bottles, and a good part of the 2019 harvest which, due to Covid, all wineries have been able to sell less of. From here, a hug. This gives me an excuse to tell you about a place in Barcelona related to them: Tros Vall Llach.

You will find it on the right side of the Eixample, on Mallorca street, 303. They have (I haven't been since before the pandemic, but I suppose they are still the same) cured meats and cheese, coca bread and a dessert cottage cheese that will be among the best you have ever tasted. Above all, what they have is all the wine from the Vall Llach winery (you can find many vintages of Idus, for example) and also wine from small Priorat producers that you probably don't know, because they don't have commercial distribution.

The winemakers who make these types of wines ---without commercial distribution--- are the ones who are suffering the most now that restaurants have so many restrictions. But the big difference between El Tros and other establishments is this: at the entrance of the place there are three vats, each one filled with a Priorat varietal (from the winery's vineyards). Carignan, Grenache Noir, Syrah, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, for the reds, and Viognier and Grenache Blanc, for the whites. Unsulfited and unfiltered. Bulk wine.

The beauty of this is that apart from trying varietals ("Give me half a glass of Cabernet") which always helps to learn, you can make your own blend. I love that. You can play at being God, because there are only three ways to play at being God: being a writer, being a child who has asked for dolls from the Three Kings, or being an enologist. So, you can ask for the typical Priorat coupage, you can ask for the coupage of a wine you admire, and you can play with your bubble group to guess what you've put in their glass.

This happy idea I had not seen in Barcelona, ​​and I don't know if it is done in other wine regions. I had only seen it in New York, years ago, when I went, thanks to my publisher, who gave me one of the most splendid gifts I have ever received: a plane ticket and a bib for the marathon, in exchange for a book that would explain it. How could I not celebrate the painful arrival at the finish line with wine?