The 2025 edition of the Premis Vinari has placed Terra Alta’s Garnacha Peluda firmly on the radar, awarding a Silver Medal to Vila-Closa Garnacha Peluda by Celler La Botera. This recognition not only highlights a singular wine but reflects the deepening shift toward native reds with identity, freshness, and finesse.
Garnacha Peluda, once overlooked, now a climate-era standout
Long seen as a rustic cousin of Garnacha Negra, Garnacha Peluda is entering a new phase. Known for its fine hairs on the underside of its leaves (hence “peluda”), this variety naturally retains moisture and matures more slowly, resulting in lower sugar levels, higher acidity, and greater aromatic nuance.
These characteristics position Peluda as a natural answer to climate stress in Mediterranean viticulture. Wines made from it tend to show tension, floral-herbal lift, and a more restrained structure than their Garnacha Negra counterparts. While traditionally used in blends, monovarietal bottlings like Vila-Closa are demonstrating its standalone potential.
Terra Alta’s evolving reds: restraint, altitude, identity
Terra Alta, long celebrated for its Garnacha Blanca, is gradually gaining visibility for red wines that express altitude, wind, and stony soils with clarity. The region’s combination of dry summers, cold winters, and the persistent Cierzo wind makes it ideal for structured reds that avoid overripeness.
Producers are leaning into older native clones, dry farming, and lower intervention. Garnacha Peluda fits seamlessly into this trend, offering depth without excess, and vibrancy without artifice. Wines like Vila-Closa illustrate how red Terra Alta can mean subtlety as much as sun.
Vila-Closa: a keyhole into the village and the vineyard
Part of Celler La Botera’s micro-vinification series, Vila-Closa aims to express village identity through native varieties and limited intervention. The name references the historic walled towns of the region, and the label design, centered on a keyhole, alludes to an invitation to rediscover what lies within.
This Garnacha Peluda cuvée is sourced from older vineyards around Batea, hand-harvested, and vinified to highlight varietal purity. No cosmetic oak. No over-extraction. Just the voice of the variety, shaped by the soils and wind of Terra Alta.
Vinari 2025: where authenticity meets technical finesse
The Premis Vinari have grown into a benchmark for Catalan wines. Judged blind by sommeliers, critics, and oenologists, they reward balance, typicity, and expression of origin. In the 2025 edition, Vila-Closa Garnatxa Peluda stood out for its clarity, energy, and honest craftsmanship.
The Silver Medal is more than a stamp of quality. For a wine from a lesser-known native grape, crafted through a joint venture between local families, it affirms a level of precision and identity that resonates beyond its origin. Recognition at this level reinforces the value of authentic, place-driven winemaking.
A fresher take on Garnacha: clarity, acidity, and native character
Rather than challenging Garnatxa Negra, Peluda offers a complementary perspective: more freshness, higher acidity, and gentler tannin structure. Vila-Closa channels these traits with restraint and confidence, inviting importers and sommeliers to explore a different rhythm within the Garnacha family.
This isn’t about contrast but nuance. Mediterranean reds that lean into altitude, native character, and subtlety are gaining ground. Garnatxa Peluda is stepping forward with quiet precision.
