We love winemakers who think of themselves as farmers, first and foremost.
Our lasting impression of Francesc Ferré is him in the vineyard telling us how much he loves working alone in the field deep in winter. It is this deep respect for the land that comes through in the way Francesc and his brother Joan treats the vines - always eco-friendly, always organic.
For over 200 years, the Ferré family grew and sold grapes in Terra Alta. When a large buyer canceled an order in 2009, Francesc and Joan decided to make their own wine, naming the winery Celler Frisach after their great-grandfather.
The Ferré brothers treat harvested grapes with the same respect they treat the land, employing winemaking methods that are low on extraction and intervention, high on purity and varietal expression. In Terra Alta, Garnatxa or Grenache is the most important varietal, coming in all manners of shades and types - Peluda, Blanca, Gris and Negra.
Perhaps the most idiosyncratic thing about Celler Frisach is how much the wines are an extension of the personality of the two brothers - inviting, welcoming, warm, fuzzy, joyful and pure. These are wines for 8pm on a Monday night at home by your lonesome, when you're in need of a companion who's comforting and familiar. They are also wines for picnics in the park with friends and family, when bottles are passed around and emptied into little plastic cups. When the wines are so pristine and delightful, the vessels you drink them from don't matter.
From the clay-limestone soil of Corbera d’Ebre in Terra Alta to the minimalist interior of French restaurant Kufuku in Akihabara, the wines of Celler Frisach have come a long way, both literally and metaphorically. It is a pleasure to offer these salt-of-the-earth wines that are paradoxically rather cult and sought after in some of the most fashionable restaurants and wine bars in the world. - John
