Montsant, Catalunya, Spain
60% Garnacha Blanca, 40% Garnacha Gris
An architect by training, Alfredo Arribas began his winemaking career in 2001 after acquiring Clos del Portal in Priorat. Over time, his work expanded into neighboring Montsant, including the recovery of old vineyards and an increasing focus on freshness, altitude, and less intervention in the cellar. His Vins Nus project grew in part from his concern about the effects of climate change and his exploration of the cooler, higher elevation vineyards around the Serra de Montsant.
The philosophy behind Vins Nus is deliberately minimalist. Arribas works with spontaneous fermentations and little intervention, seeking wines defined more by freshness, acidity, and their origins than by extraction or oak. The higher altitude vineyards associated with the SiurAlta wines reach approximately 600 to 800 meters and include both calcareous and slate based soils.
Lemon Melon 2024 is an especially playful expression of this philosophy. Made from organically grown Garnacha Blanca and Garnacha Gris, the fruit comes from approximately 25 year old vines growing on slate and red clay soils. The grapes are harvested at two different stages of ripeness: an earlier picking preserves the wine’s citrus and grapefruit character, while a later harvest contributes riper melon and stone fruit. The combination provides the inspiration for the name Lemon Melon.
In the glass, the wine is light, juicy, crisp, and wonderfully refreshing, with a subtle frizzante quality adding energy to the palate. Bright citrus and lemon notes lead into softer melon and stone fruit, creating an appealing balance between tart freshness and ripe fruit. There is a purity and immediacy here that makes the wine feel uncomplicated without being simple.
Fermentation is spontaneous, and the wine is bottled just before fermentation is completely finished, which accounts for that gentle pétillance. It is bottled unfiltered and unfined, with no added sulphites according to the producer information.
What I particularly enjoy about Lemon Melon is its sense of energy and spontaneity. It is crisp and lively, with bright fruit purity and just enough effervescence to make it especially refreshing. The name may be playful, but behind it is a thoughtful approach to farming and winemaking: a wine that relies on fruit, acidity, altitude, and minimal intervention rather than extraction or oak.