{"id":711,"date":"2013-10-14T21:37:26","date_gmt":"2013-10-14T20:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.northeastwine.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=711"},"modified":"2013-10-15T20:11:50","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T19:11:50","slug":"de-muller-by-papal-approval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.northeastwine.org.uk\/Blog\/de-muller-by-papal-approval\/","title":{"rendered":"De Muller, by Papal approval"},"content":{"rendered":"

The AdVintage<\/a> September 2013 wine tour of Tarragona continued with a visit to the De Muller winery<\/a> in Mas de Valls, just outside of the town of Reus.
\n\"Doorways\"<\/a>Founded in 1851 by Don Auguste de Muller and Ruinart de Brimont, the company is famous for its sweet Sacramental (Altar) wines which it supplied to the Vatican under Papal license between 1903 and 1963 and which it still exports to the Catholic Church and its missions worldwide.<\/p>\n

De Muller was bought in 1995 by the Martorell family and expanded in 1999 by the purchase of the Cochs Vermouth company, known locally for their “Vermut Iris”.
\nThe estate currently has 240ha of vineyards; 200 ha around the main winery in Tarragona and 40ha in El Molar, in the southwestern of Priorat.<\/p>\n

\"55k<\/a>Our first impressions were of the size of the place, several large “hangars” and side-buildings. First we went through to the sweet wine warehouse which had a very intoxicating sherry and caramel smell, passing by three ancient, enormous barrels, each holding 55,000 liters. These are supposed to be the largest barrels in Catalonia; 100 year old, slow-oxidation Soleras (Asoleado) giving a hint at the scale of wine-making we were about to encounter.<\/p>\n

Then\u00a0the winemaker, Jordi Benito Prades, appeared to take over tour-guide duties. We felt quite privileged having him show us round, although at first he appeared rushed (probably understandable, considering we were right in the middle of the harvest).<\/p>\n

We were ushered through to one of the main winery buildings along with talks on sweet grapes, sweet wines and an overview of the company. Jordi said that they used to supply a cool fermented Sauvignon Blanc to the U.K. through Morrisons, but no longer export to our shores (supermarket pricing didn\u2019t seem a popular topic!). In total De Muller produces 500,000 hl of Sacremental wine for export around the world, along with 200,000hl of sweet wines and 45 other different types of wine, mainly still but including some Cava \u2013 we are talking a truly industrial scale of winemaking, the exact polar opposite of what we encountered as Mas Vicen\u00e7<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We passed by a bottling line where the end result were 1.5l plastic bottles packed into cardboard cases of 6. There were strange looks exchanged until Jordi said this was the Vermouth (Vermut Iris), a popular product to many restaurants which use it as a welcome drink \u2013 this was truly bulk recipe wine-making, taking only one month to make and including addition of sugar & caramel for flavouring\/colour. Next door we spied dozens of blue plastic tubs containing gallons of Sacramental wines destined for export to, amongst other places, Ghana and Vietnam \u2013 to the relief of thirsty missionaries around the world!\"Missionary<\/a>\"What<\/a>Then we went down into the cellars – past dozens of barrels of different sizes – into the pressing and pumping room. In one corner were a pile of stalks which were the sorry remnants of a whole trailer full of grapes we\u2019d just seen offloaded into the vats upstairs. The pump\/press itself looked like a massive jet-engine and towards the back of the room were several rows of new barriques where the barrel-fermenting Chardonnay was resting.<\/p>\n

Back through to a different room, again stacked high with dozens of barrels from Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, France etc. By this time Jordi had slowed down and told us of the experimentation they carry out with the different oak, each one chosen for the different flavour components they impart; coffee, chocolate, vanilla etc. His enthusiasm was now showing through and he told of his winemaking family background and spending a year studying in the U.S. This was in stark contrast to the mechanical, industrial operation we’d seen upstairs; down here, amongst the walls of oak, his creative side was apparent.\"Barrels<\/a><\/p>\n

Conversation briefly turned to the 2013 harvest and Jordi admitted he hasn\u2019t got high hopes\u00a0 \u2013 the grapes were ripening on average 20 days slower than usual following the cool Spring.<\/p>\n

On the way to the tasting room we walked past the Cava enclave, sadly locked (with no sign of the key!) containing hundreds of bottles on their sides.<\/p>\n

The wines;<\/strong><\/p>\n