Pardas Sus Scrofa Sumoll, Penedès 2017

Celler Pardas was set up by Ramón Parera and Jordi Arnan, two local growers from Alta Penedès in Catalonia, in 1996. Wanting to grow grapes and make wine that reflected the varied terroirs of their land, they began planting cuttings from old and proven vines on the 60 hectare Finca Can Comas estate, a medieval farmhouse surrounded by vines, arable land, forest and pasture. For their focus they chose the indigenous varieties sumoll and xarel-lo, with some malvasia, mourvèdre, and cabernets franc and sauvignon grown too, and they set out to reflect the terroir of the estate in the wines.

They farm organically (they live on the estate as well as working it, after all) and use indigenous yeasts for fermentations. Barrels and egg-shaped concrete tanks are used for maturation depending on the cuvée and no clarification is undertaken before bottling.

The sumoll hand-harvested for the Sus Scrofa red grows in three vineyard sites – Can Canals (planted in 1950), Sumoll cementiri (2001), Carles (1999). The name of the wine comes from the Latin for the wild boar, pictured on the label, who peacefully share the vineyards with Ramón and Jordi!