Amos Baneres

Amos Bañeres is the protagonist of a personal metamorphosis story that leads a weary pharmacist, bored with a stereotypical routine in the urban area of Barcelona, to transform himself into a winemaker in a remote village in the area of Penedès. The native village of San Martìn Sarroca is home to the family vineyard, which Amos recovers and works to bring back with his first harvest in 2011. His life's new path led him to meet a winemaker who produced Cava for the family business, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2020, and was similarly looking for new challenges. Amos Bañeres then created, together with Alex Ruiz Masach, a partnership that was christened Els Vinyerons and represented a second production sign through which to give voice to his own vision of the terroir.

Amos Bañeres's family property covers an area of 5.5 hectares in the Penedès region, a few kilometers southwest of Barcelona, the part of Catalonia universally known for producing Spain's greatest classic method bubbles. The Serra d'Ordal closes off the view of the Mediterranean, while the vineyards climb the first elevations of the mountains behind, already in the Tarragona area, standing at an altitude between 300 and 400 meters above sea level. The soils have a limestone structure, covered with clay soils, and take advantage of the humid sea breezes: the climate is particularly dry, but the agriculture practiced is "dry-farming," without irrigation. The agronomic approach has always followed the organic line, with use of biodynamic principles, and all operations are carried out by hand, with the aim of respecting as much as possible the nature and characters of the typical native varieties, with some plants exceeding 50 years of age: the white berries Xarel-lo, Macabeu, Parellada, Listàn and the black berries Garnacha, Villarjego.

Winery activities are carried out by Amos Bañeres with the same intentions of safeguarding the raw material, avoiding the use of chemical adjuvants, filtrations, clarifications, stabilizations or additions of sulfur dioxide. Spontaneous fermentations take place in containers of various types, depending on the type and generally after direct pressing, while the use of temperature control is allowed. Agings gladly use oak barrels and amphorae and occupy the space of a small shed next to the domestic dwelling.