Lectores Vini/Fredi Torres
Lectores Vini / Fredi Torres
+ History
Fredi Torres was born to a farming and fishing family in Galicia. He spent much of his childhood in Switzerland, where he later worked for Nike and then spent nearly a decade touring full time as a DJ in the European House music scene. But his rural, Iberian roots eventually called him back to the land. He studied viticulture and wine making in Switzerland and then spent time working in Burgundy, Argentina, South Africa and Priorat.
In the end, it was the dramatic soils and old vines from the DO of Priorat, Catalunya that captured his attention. In 2004, after working with Clos Mogador, he founded Sao del Coster with partners from Switzerland. From the beginning the focus was on organic and biodynamic farming in the vineyards and non-interventionist winemaking in the cellar. But as sometimes happens, the winemaker and the book keepers (his partners) began to see things differently and decided to part ways.
Fredi still calls Priorat home, but he is a man on the move. He is involved in projects in Ribeira Sacra, Rias Baixas, Empordá and Southern France. In 2016 he teamed up with Marc Lecha to found Lectores Vini. The first wine under this umbrella was the Pomagrana Trepat from Conca de Barberá. Fredi's Montsant was added the next year and this year his Priorat Classic will also be under the Lectores Vini label.
Fredi farms all of his vines organically with biodynamic principles and all of the winemaking is non-interventionist. The only thing ever added to the wines is a little sulfur at bottling. All ferments are with native yeast and there is no fining and little to no filtering. The goal is to make wines with bright acidity, pure fruit and low alcohols. Spanish wines 2.0
Fredi Torres ‘Finca Maruxa’ Albariño Rias Baixas
+ Wine Story
Located near the beach in the Rio de Salnes area, the name 'Finca Maruxa' is a bit of a joke here. This wine is from a tiny plot of vines in the backyard garden of an old woman named Maria (Maruxa). The vines are well over 100 years old and pergola trained. The soil is pure granitic sand.
+ Technical Details
VARIETIES: Albariño.
VINEYARDS: Backyard garden on granitic sand near the beach in the Rio de Salnes area of Rias Baixas.
FARMING: Organic.
WINEMAKING: Whole cluster, direct to press. Vinified and aged in ceramic eggs.
Lectores Vini ‘Pomagrana’ Trepat Conca de Barberá
+ Wine Story
This wine really captures what Fredi Torres likes as a winemaker. It is somewhere in the margins. It's somewhere between red and rosé - I guess 'chillable red' is the term these days. It has low alcohol and can be drank in copious amounts just for pleasure, but it also has a depth and complexity that one can ponder over. It's fresh and naturally made, farmed organically, utterly delicious, quite unique and fairly priced. What's not to love?
+ Technical Details
VARIETIES: Trepat
VINEYARDS: 2 sites at 400 and 520 meters between the towns of Barberá de la Conca and Cabra del Camp. Both planted in 2005 on limestone soils surrounded by natural forests.
FARMING: Organic
WINEMAKING: 100% destemmed. 7 days maceration. Fermentation via native yeast in stainless steel. Bottled after 6 months in steel.
Lectores Vini ‘La Selección’ Montsant
+ Wine Story
Fredi was working with a different partner on this wine for the past couple years but was able to keep one of his favorite sites from that project for this new vintage. Near Masroig where there is consistently just enough rain to achieve maturity but keep the red fruit flavors he wants for this wine. A bit of carbonic and no wood makes this fresh, easy and charming.
+ Technical Details
VARIETIES: 70% Garnacha, 20% Carignan, 5% Tempranillo, 5% white grapes
VINEYARDS: 2HA site near Masroig. Iron rich clay and limestone soils.
FARMING: Organic with Biodynamic principles
WINEMAKING: Partially destemmed. Fermentation occurs in stainless steel with a bit of carbonic maceration. Aging in tank only.
Lectores Vini ‘Classic’ Priorat
+ Wine Story
The fist time we tasted this wine brought to mind old conversations about California wine. The ones where people insisted that 15% alcohol wine was just what the climate in California produced, where phenolic ripeness was used as an excuse to let fruit hang forever and to make massive, fruit bomb wines. Priorat isn't Napa, but its not so different either. Fredi has made the massive version of Priorat and he garnerd massive scores for it too. But it wasn't the wine he wanted to drink - and we can relate. The Classic has all the Priorat signposts, but with 13.5 alcohol and moderate extraction. Hallelujah.
+ Technical Details
VARIETIES: 50% Garnacha, 30% Carignan, 10% Syrah, 10% other
VINEYARDS: Around 2HA of terraced vines spread around Torroja, Gratallops and Falset. The sites in Torroja and Gratallops are both on pure Schiste while the Falset sites are schiste and some granite. The Torroja fruit and the granite soils in Falset both bring freshness and elegance.
FARMING: Organic with biodynamic principles
WINEMAKING: Fermented in stainless steel. 20% of the wine is aged in nuetral oak.