Location
Viladellops is a small village in the hills between Vilafranca del Penedès, the capital of the famous wine-making region and Sitges, down on the Mediterranean coast. Looking across the valley from Finca Viladellops, one can see the castle of Olèrdola, renowned as the earliest settlement in the region, and which was home to all of the people who have colonized Spain during its history—the Ibers, the Romans, the Goths, the Arabs, the Franks (who finally became the Catalans!). Wine-making has always been a significant part of local agriculture, becoming of overwhelming importance to the Penedès in the second half of the nineteenth century, when the export trade of wine grew.
In recent times, the cava industry has demanded that more and more white varieties be planted, but traditionally both red and white have long been planted. Parellada, Macabeo and Xarel·lo make up the bulk of the reds, whilst the Mediterranean staples Garnacha and Cariñena were also widely planted. The Penedès also covers an extensive area, from sea level up to around 800 meters above sea level. This means that there is a wide range of climates and soil types as well as many different local and international grape varieties; in consequence, it is difficult to clearly define the style of wines from this area.
Vineyards
The area of the Garraf lies in the arid, calcareous hills between Vilafranca and Sitges. The village of Viladellops all belongs to the estate; at its centre is the old manor house, directly across the valley from the castle of Olèrdola. The estate of Finca Viladellops is at around 300m above sea level and is about 15km from the Mediterranean. It covers around 500 hectares altogether, of which some 65 are vineyards. These are on generally calcareous and poor soils, which mean that traditional Mediterranean agriculture has always been practiced here: vines, olives and almonds.
The cellar was first built in 1877, a witness to the growing export markets for wines from our region at that time. In more recent times, the vineyards had been planted to Macabeo and Xarel·lo, the staple varieties of the Cava industry. However, in the last ten years we have decided that we wish to make our wines again and to make wines which are worthy of the historical name “Viladellops”. Of the 65 hectares of existing vineyard, some 20 have been redrafted or retrained. We have something that money cannot buy, and that is vines with a great root structure, adapted to our terrain and climate.
For our white wines, principally the Xarel·lo grape variety, we are using an innovative system of hoops to train the foliage upwards, giving greater exposure to the sun and improving the flow of air around the grapes, or retraining the vines to a Cordon system. Our reds are mostly grafted onto existing roots, and already in their second year produce
grapes and therefore wines of excellent quality.
Wine-making
The key to quality winemaking is always the quality of the grapes, and this is no different in Viladellops. The building where our wines are made was built in 1877, but it now contains the simple, modern technology which will help turn our excellent grapes into wines which are at the same time both traditional yet made with the modern consumer in mind. Full, rich and complex but still easy to drink.
As our aim is to get the most out of our grapes, we add as little as possible to them. To this end, they will stay in an inert atmosphere at a low temperature from the moment they arrive at the vineyard until they begin to ferment, so that we have absolutely no need to add any suphur. Both reds and whites begin their fermentation in stainless steel tanks, but
our best whites (Xarel·lo and Xarel·lo Rosat) will finish their fermentation in French oak. Our reds, made from Garnatxa, Syrah, Marcelan, Merlot and Cariñena are fermented and then also aged separately.
As our Garnatxa here in the Penedès is light and perfumed and does not have the structure of a Priorat, for example, it is blended with Marcelan half-way through the ageing process to make sure that the wine is properly balanced. All our wines age in French oak, of which one third are new barrels, in order to avoid an over extraction of woody flavors.
