My family has been a winemaker family for many generations. I was born next to the
vineyards of the family home called Cal Tiques.
I was very close to my grandfather, who told me endless stories when he intuited my
interest in 14-year-old viticulture.
Although I would have liked to study philosophy, I studied oenology and at the age of
25 I started working our own fields, selling grapes to local wineries. After a while I
went to work for a prestigious cava producer, rising in level to become Technical
Director. I am so grateful to them because I have learned so much during these 15
years of career.
As pleasant and comfortable as my position was, I had the deep design of stopping
selling grapes and making wines from family vineyards. So, together with my wife
Àngels and with the help of a friend of ours, Aart Jan Hemmink, I made the leap in
2015. Tiques Vins was born, in the heart of the Penedès.
Our winery is small and functional. It has an old part from the middle of the 19th
century and a recent part built in 2015.
Philosophy
My philosophy in winemaking is based on the conviction that we should show
our full respect to nature, and in return receive marvellous gifts..
Agriculture as such is not ‘natural’ because we intervene and modify the
natural order. What is important is to do this in concert with the rhythm that
nature dictates. Nature teaches you how to do this.
I want to create wines that go straight to the essence, not dressing them up. It’s
a matter of removing rather than adding when trying to find the true nature of
a wine and discover its elegance and subtleties.
Methods
If we regard the four pillars of winemaking as the soil, the care of the vines, the
harvest and the vinification, my approach is as follows:
Soil
Our vineyards are a collection of relatively small parcels of land which have one
thing in common; a very calcareous limestone clay with a great diversity of
compositions.
Industrial agriculture has brought high yields, however without taking the
negative and very costly side effects into account. Artificial fertilizers,
herbicides, fungicides and erosion are the main cause of the biological death of
any soil.
We strictly work according to the principles of ecologic and biodynamic farming
and therefore exclusively use natural home-made compost and avoid any
artificial fertilizers and herbicides. In addition, we allow a variety of
spontaneous plant covers between the vines, to try and create a symbiosis. All
this translates into a balanced and healthy soil that is regenerates itself,
providing yields for the long term. We take a long-term perspective rather than
focusing on short-term yields.
Our way of working resulted in obtaining the CCPAE Certificate of Organic
Farming in 2009.
Care of the vineyards
We apply phytotherapy to the plants and work with horsetail and nettle
decoctions that we harvest and dry ourselves.
To me, the backbone of wine is acidity. Much of our efforts in the vineyard are
aimed at finding the right leaf-fruit ratio to obtain the acidity that each wine
needs.
I think one can feel how the wines start their process in the vineyard and when
they are ready to be guided. Precisely while pruning we adopt a posture of
reverence and then our relationship with the plant begins. Pruning can be seen
as humanization of the wild bud that will become the vine. By pruning we ask
the vine to fructify and at that moment it can be decided what kind of wine one
wishes to make.
Harvesting
Timing is everything. The relevant parameters need to be closely monitored to
determine the day of harvest.
But careful treatment of the grapes is equally important. The grapes need to
arrive at the cellar completely uncrushed. We therefore exclusively pick by
hand and use small 20 kg crates. Hand-picking also means being able to do a
first selection of grapes in the field and discard leaves etc.
During our recent harvests, we were happy to be assisted by our son Arnau and
his friends. It is a joy to see them working together and witness a team that
feels responsible to take utmost care of the grapes.
Vinification
After arrival, all grapes immediately go through a second selection on the table,
and then separated from the stems and guided to stainless steel vessels.
I believe that the skin of the grape is a fundamental element in winemaking.
The skin contains a large part of the flavors and aromas and influences the
tactile feel of the wines. That is why our wines are all macerated with their
skins for as long as needed. After days or even weeks we taste the must/wine
because in many cases the fermentation has already begun (always with native
yeasts and spontaneously). Based on taste, we decide to run off the wine,
which is done by gravity. All our wines are obtained by decanting without
pressing by foot or by machine. We don’t even have a press.
It is important to us that the wine expresses the variety, the vintage, the
landscape. That is why we work with different types of materials; stainless
steel, oak, but also ceramic jars that have been baked differently and made
from different types of soil resulting in red ceramics and white ceramics. We
pay particular attention to the proper ageing times in the different vessels that
we use, as well as the ageing period in the bottle.
We do not add selected yeasts, nor do not add sulphites and we do not clarify
nor filter. Yet all wines have a clear appearance.
As said earlier, we spend much effort in making sure that we grow healthy and
well-balanced grapes. Particular attention is given to the balance between
leaves and fruit in the vineyard which needs to be adapted to the differing
harvests. The intrinsic quality and strength of the grapes is then complemented
by a high level of cleanliness in the cellar. All this results in an excellent
durability of our wines, in the bottle and after opening. Wine that is clean,
healthy and strong does not need artificial preservation additives!
Natural winemakers, here's the information we need to register you on Raisin.
DESCRIPTION OF YOUR DOMAINE
Please provide the information about your estate including location, size, treatments used,
horses, tractors, harvests, etc. within 300-500 characters. This description will be added to your profile.
CERTIFICATIONS (ORGANIC, BIODYNAMIC) :
Please send us all certifications (organic, biodynamic, etc.). If your estate is not certified,
please explain why and describe your farming practices.
INFORMATION ON EACH OF THE WINES YOU PRODUCE:
wine name
color
grape variety(ies) by year(s)
appellation
sparkling
label photo (.pdf format - printer's proof)
volume of free and total sulfur
analysis of each vintage
Is your wine from Négociant activities?
PHOTOS :
a photo of you (the winemaker)
photos of the winery and cellar (between 6 and 12)