Two hectares of vines and roughly 8,000 bottles a year is not a business plan so much as a vocation. Alvaro Gonzalez Marcos left another life behind to farm a tiny corner of the high Penedes by hand.
Backstory
Gonzalez founded his project, Somiavins, meaning "dreamwine," in 2013, after studying oenology and working as a sommelier, a period he describes as life-changing. He set up in a masia, a traditional Catalan country house where wine has been made for more than four centuries, and committed from the start to working by hand in the vineyard and intervening as little as possible in the cellar.
The Region
His vines lie in the high Penedes, inland from the Mediterranean coast near Barcelona, in Catalonia's largest wine region. Altitude and limestone-rich, alkaline soils favor the local white grapes that built the area's reputation, above all Xarel-lo and Parellada.
Vineyards & Farming
The estate spans two hectares across two sites. At Sant Joan Samora, 50-year-old Xarel-lo bush vines grow on chalky, limestone, lightly alkaline soil. At Piera, Parellada is planted on limestone, sandy, alkaline ground. The vineyards were certified organic in 2016 and are farmed biodynamically, with preparations 500 and 501 and Maria Thun compost plus herbal additions. All work is done by hand, grass is left to grow between the rows for biodiversity and against erosion, and the aim is to regenerate living soils rather than sterilize them.
Winemaking
Everything is made artisanally, with spontaneous fermentation on native yeasts. The wines settle and stabilize by gravity rather than fining, age in old barrels, and are bottled unfiltered with minimal intervention. Total output is only around 8,000 bottles a year.
The Wines
Local varieties lead: Xarel-lo, Parellada, and Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo). The white cuvee Com Mai is a skin-contact Xarel-lo from old vines, macerated around 12 days and aged in old wood, a textural, characterful wine. The reds, including the cuvee A Temps, carry the same low-sulfur, hand-farmed signature, offering an honest snapshot of the high Penedes from one of its smallest growers.
