The Castell del Remei winery, more or less in its current shape, dates back to the late nineteenth century when Ignasi Vilanova built the cellar on land his family had farmed since 1780. Having studied agricultural Engineering at Paris University, he subsequently visited Bordeaux, and brought back an oenologist and four famers' families to help establish modern techniques in Catalonia. The winery boomed under his management, offering high quality wines at a time when the French vineyards were being decimated by the phylloxera. Whilst much of Catalonia's vineyards were geared towards mass-production, Castell del Remei specialised in oak-aged bottled wines, winning international recognition between 1887 and 1907. The cellar continued to flourish until the death of Girona's brother in 1950. The recovery of Castell del Remei as a quality producer began in 1982 when the Cusiné family bought the estate and started to reinvest in the enterprise after 30 years.

Castell del Remei today is surrounded by the apple and pear orchards so prevalent in this area. The castle and adjacent cellar are surrounded by around 36 hectares of trellissed vineyards of mostly imported French varieties, particularly Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The area is basically flat, and irrigated by the Canal d'Urgell. Given that annual rainfall in the area can be as low as 200mm, it is extremely important to be able to water the vines. The castle has its own reservoir fed from the Canal d'Urgell. During my visit (in February) one of the nearby vineyards was being watered after a very dry winter. The climate in this area of Costers del Segre is much more extreme most other Catalan winelands, with summer temperatures in the upper 30s, and very cold winters. In 1997, the Cusine family bought an additional 20 hectares of vineyards in the south of the Costers del Segre denomination (in the Vall del Riu Corb). These higher altitude vineyards are planted mainly with local varieties, including the Garnatxa used in the new blends.

Having specialised mainly in single-variety wines during the nineties (with a very highly regarded Cabernet Sauvignon among their range), the cellar is currently launching two new blends destined to supplant the previous range of Cabernets and Merlots. This new range has been conceived under the supervison of Miguel Angel de Gregorio, winemaker of the excellent Allende and Aurus labels in Rioja.

1780 is the top of the range, an unfiltered Cabernet, Ull de Llebre and Garnatxa blend aged for 12 months in new American oak. Conceived as a wine to be cellared, it still needs additional time in the bottle to fully integrate the oak (it was bottled in November 99), but this is backed up with sufficient fruit and structure for balance.

Oda is made up of principally Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with a little Ull de Llebre and Garnatxa. Like 1780 it is unfiltered and has spent 12 months in American oak, although only part new barrels, and part used. It is a more approachable wine at present with impressive complexity and balance. Gotim Bru, one of the best selling wines at El Celler Català (and with the best quality-price ratio) closes what is a very impressive range of wines, set to re-establish the Castell del Remei brand. Many thanks to their general manager, Xavier Cepero, for showing me around.