Vega Aixala 'Emma' Vilanova de Prades

I opened this bottle from Vega Aixala last night as I had yet to try it and hadn’t got round to it over the Christmas break. A natural red from high altitude vineyards surrounding the small village of Vilanova de Prades in Tarragona.

Once in the glass, a beautiful dark red with violet hues, big aromas of dark fruit, black, ripe and slightly spiced, blackberries and blackcurrant with a savoury, herby touch. Really smooth on the palate with dark berry fruit flavours and again wonderful hints of spice. Definitely had a natural, farmy edge to it and I put it aside while I cooked something to eat alongside it.

So some boned out chicken thighs, some leftover soft Rollright cheese (Always rich pickings post-Christmas) stuffed into the chicken and roasted. Then a hot pan, courgette, garlic, whole cherry toms, once blistered, a couple of healthy chunks of N’duja to heat thing up a little and create a little sauce. Finished up with a couple of handfuls of spinach wilted down and some leftover blanched broccoli making sure there were more vegetables on the plate than chicken!

Back to the wine, what a difference with some food, it took the chilli in its stride and some, really enhanced the fruitiness of the spice and the savouriness of the blistered chicken skin. The farmyard character of the wine was tempered a little but still present, all in all, a match made in heaven.

To summarise a great natural freshness and cool style of red wine from this fantastic collective of young winemakers. 40% Carinyena, 30% Marselan, 10% Syrah, 10% Garnacha y 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, manually harvested, fermentation in concrete tank with natural yeast and aged partly in a 3000-litre concrete tank and in old barrels for 8 months. Bottled without being clarified or filtered. A natural wine containing less than 4 mg/L in a total of SO2. Bottled in June 2019 with a tiny production of 3956 bottles.