Nulles is a village of fewer than 500 people in Catalonia's Alt Camp region, roughly 45 minutes southwest of Barcelona. For years, the grapes grown here went straight to cooperatives. Nobody bottled under their own name. Then Francesc Boronat -- known to everyone as Cesc -- came back to his grandfather's land in 2014, planted his feet, and started making wine. He is, today, the only active independent winemaker in the village.
The Name and the Leap
"Tanca Els Ulls" means "close your eyes" in Catalan. It is an apt name for a project that required Cesc to take a leap of faith -- to look past the cooperative model, the skepticism about the region's commercial viability, and the sheer difficulty of reviving vineyards that had been left to decline. He studied oenology, worked at larger Spanish wineries and spent time in New Zealand, then returned to Nulles to do something more personal and rooted. The first vintage was 2016.
The Vineyards and the Grapes
Cesc farms around 6 hectares of organically grown vines surrounded by fennel, rosemary, orange trees, and olive groves. The soils are clay and limestone, tempered by Mediterranean breezes that roll in from the sea about 20 minutes away. He works with indigenous varieties: Macabeu (old vines), Cartoixà de Marina (over 80 years old, north-facing), Malvasia, and Garnatxa. The goal is saline, pithy wines that taste unmistakably of where they come from.
In the Cellar
Minimal intervention throughout: organic farming in the vineyard, spontaneous fermentations, skin contact and amphora work for certain cuvées, no unnecessary additions. The wines span skin-contact whites, fresh reds, and orange wines, all carrying the garrigue and sea-salt imprint of this corner of Catalonia that most wine drinkers have never heard of -- yet.