Costador Metamorphika Chenin Blanc 2022

A wonderfully wild take on Chenin. Produced from 62-year-old vines which are macerated on the skins for a week, fermentation then takes place in clay amphora, followed by an ageing period in used French barrels. Has the typical structure, fresh acidity, and dry profile you find in Chenin, but with lots of complex development in the glass, offering notes of kumquat, cantaloupe melon and honey.

Costador terroirs are single-vineyards, organic wines produced from old vines. Mountains vineyards maximum highs of 864 meters. The majority of the fermentation is carried out in clay amphorae called Tinajas. The orange wines are fermented with whole berries with skin contact during 6 to 8 weeks. The final juice is a real & authentic wine with a natural taste.

They work with autochthon Catalan varieties and another with singular terroirs. Costador is around 15 different plots of vines, scattered around Tarragona province, but mostly centred around Conca de Barberà, with mountain as well as Mediterranean influences. The soil around here is mostly calcareous and this limestone minerality shines through in the wines. As a child Joan used to pass this plot regularly, old Chenin vines planted 60 years ago by Bodega Torres, vines that by the time Joan took on the plot in 2014, had been abandoned for years and were almost on the verge of dying off. His first vintage Joan lost all of the little production there was to botrytis and wild boar. The second vintage he managed to save enough grapes to just make 600 bottles of Metamorphika. This is his third vintage and his production has managed to creep up to somewhat closer to normal. The costador grapes do a cold ferment for a few days at between 3 and 5 degrees to start the fermentation slowly and to avoid oxidation. Fermentation takes place in amphora and once finished the wine is passed to old French oak where it ages for 9 months before bottling.