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Partida Creus

Partida Creus CX Cartoixa Vermell 2020

Price: $37.00
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Tasting notes

The 90-day skin maceration on a grape with naturally pale, low-tannin skins produces a wine that is textured without being heavy — gingery spice, pink grapefruit, and white peach with a firm saline finish. At 12% ABV, it drinks closer to a serious natural rosé than a typical orange wine, but with real phenolic grip and complexity.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
White PeachRhubarbGingerSaline
  • Style: Dry, light-bodied orange wine; hazy salmon-amber; white peach, pink citrus, ginger spice, saline finish; 12% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Cartoixa Vermell (pink-skinned Xarel-lo mutation); old vines ~35 years; clay and limestone soils; Massís de Bonastre, Baix Penedès; 150-200m elevation; organically farmed
  • Winemaking: Hand-harvested; destemmed; 90 days skin maceration; native yeast fermentation in stainless steel at 15-18°C; 7 months aging in stainless steel; no sulfites added; unfined; unfiltered
  • Serving: Serve at 50-55°F; no decanting needed; gentle invert before pouring to integrate lees, or pour carefully for a clearer pour
  • Pairing: Oysters, tuna crudo, grilled prawns, pa amb tomàquet, aged Manchego, dishes with thyme or rosemary
  • Similar To: For fans of textured natural rosé or light orange wines who want something rarer than Pinot Grigio ramato or Grenache Gris skin contact

Cartoixa Vermell is a pink-skinned mutation of Xarel-lo, historically grown in Penedès and Tarragona and largely sidelined during the Cava boom in favor of more commercially lucrative varieties. Partida Creus sources this grape from old vines averaging around 35 years old on clay and limestone soils in the Massís de Bonastre, Baix Penedès, at 150-200 meters elevation roughly 5 kilometers from the Mediterranean coast.

The grapes are hand-harvested and destemmed, then macerated on skins for 90 days before pressing in a pneumatic press. Fermentation happens spontaneously with native yeasts in stainless steel at 15-18°C. The wine then ages for 7 months in stainless steel. No sulfites are added at any stage. Unfined and unfiltered.

The result is a hazy, amber-tinged wine with a pale salmon-orange hue. On the nose: white peach, rhubarb, pink citrus, and aromatic herbs, with a slightly reductive funk that dissipates with air. The palate is tart and textured, with feathery phenolics from the extended skin contact, fresh acidity, and a saline mineral finish. Low alcohol at 12% keeps it lively and food-friendly.

This wine falls outside the Penedès DO designation, as Cartoixa Vermell is not among the appellation's authorized varieties. It is labeled as a Vino de la Tierra de Catalunya.

The wine's saline edge and firm acidity make it a strong match for raw or lightly dressed seafood — oysters, tuna crudo, or grilled prawns. It also pairs well with aged sheep's milk cheeses and dishes with aromatic herbs like thyme or rosemary. Pa amb tomàquet, the Catalan staple of bread rubbed with ripe tomato and olive oil, is a natural fit.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Orange Wine
Wine Style:, Light Body
Grapes:, Cartoixa Vermell
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, 2020
Alcohol:, 12%
Country:, Spain
Region:, Penedès
Appellation:, Vino de la Tierra de Catalunya
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

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Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


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If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


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If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Partida Creus

Partida Creus is the project of Massimo Marchiori and Antonella Gerosa, two architects originally from the Piedmont region of Italy who moved to Barcelona in the late 1990s. Around 2000, they relocated to the countryside, settling in Bonastre in the Massís de Bonastre within Baix Penedès. The name Partida Creus comes from the old Catalan term for the crosses used to mark the boundaries between land holdings.

When Massimo and Antonella arrived in Bonastre, the surrounding area contained numerous near-abandoned vineyards planted with indigenous Catalan varieties that neighboring growers had deemed too old, too low-yielding, or too obscure to be worth farming. They began tracking down landowners and acquiring or leasing these parcels, farming everything organically. Their estate covers 22 hectares total, with 6 hectares planted to vines, on clay and limestone soils at 150-200 meters elevation. They work with varieties including Sumoll, Garrut, Cartoixa Vermell, Vinyater, Queixal de Llop, Ull de Perdiu, Trepat, Macabeu, and Bobal, among others — functioning as a de facto conservatory of Catalan indigenous grapes.

All wines are made with zero additions: native yeast fermentation, no sulfites, no fining, no filtration. Vinification for the CX takes place in stainless steel with spontaneous fermentation at 15-18°C, 90 days of skin maceration, and 7 months of aging in stainless steel before bottling. The winery is housed in a refurbished agricultural building in Bonastre, converted using recycled materials.

Wine region

Penedès, Spain

Penedès is a DO located between Barcelona and Tarragona in northeastern Spain, running from the Mediterranean coast inland through three distinct elevation zones. Baix Penedès, the lowest and warmest subzone, sits at up to 250 meters above sea level and benefits from maritime breezes off the coast. The Massís de Bonastre, where Partida Creus farms, falls within this coastal-influenced subzone at 150-200 meters elevation, just 5 kilometers from the sea. Soils across the region range from sandy loams at lower elevations to calcareous clay and limestone on the upland massifs — the latter being what characterizes Bonastre. The climate is typically Mediterranean: hot, dry summers moderated by sea breezes known locally as marinadas, and mild, wet winters.

Penedès is best known internationally as the home of Cava, Spain's flagship sparkling wine, produced primarily from Xarel-lo, Macabeo, and Parellada. The commercial pressure of Cava production during the 20th century led many growers to abandon or uproot indigenous low-yielding varieties in favor of higher-volume output. As of the 2025 harvest, Penedès became the first wine appellation in Spain with 100% certified organic production across its members — a shift that producers like Partida Creus helped initiate. A growing number of small producers working in and around Bonastre are now recovering these abandoned indigenous varieties and producing wines outside the DO framework as Vino de la Tierra de Catalunya.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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