It’s interesting to sit back and watch the way things rapidly come and go in the current natural wine “scene.” Honestly, it’s a little fucking hectic, and when thinking about or drinking wine starts to lose its pleasure for me, I take a step back and focus on other things. It’s usually not some new producer from a hot new book that gets me excited again, but rather, someone like Joan Ramón Escoda, whom year after year has been a winemaker that we can all count on for a palate refresh. Contrary to the mildly disastrous harvest of 2020 in which Escoda lost most of his fruit, 2021 marks a much more bountiful crop from the Conca, and an accordingly striking batch of new wines. All of the classics are here, yet they somehow feel fresh every time the Hillebrand truck rolls up with the new lot—proof of Escoda’s sheer lack of creative fatigue and drive to keep tweaking the formulas, not so quietly writing a new history of Catalan wine. 




BRUTAL 2021
Sumoll Blanc
$29






Nas Del Gegant 2021
Field Blend
$23





Els Bassots 2021
Chenin Blanc
$29





Les Paradetes 2021
Carinyena / Garnatxa / Sumoll
$29





Coll de Sabeter 2021
Cabernet Franc, etc
$29





La Llopetera 2020
Pinot Noir
$32





Mas del Gaio 2021
Parellada / Garnatxa Blanca / Macabeo / Sumoll Blanc
$37





Carmen 2018
Cabernet Franc
$55





Nas del Gegant 2018 MAG
Field Blend
$64