This is the second vintage of the wine El Pas de l’Estudiant, produced in DO Montsant by the Josep Grau Viticultor winery.

The 2022 vintage of this Spanish red wine is made from 90% Hairy Grenache, 7% Carignan and 3% White Grenache, sourced from a single parcel called El Pas de l’Estudiant, (meaning “the student’s trail”), a vineyard of untamed beauty planted in 1947 on limestone-rocky soils. The name is a reference to the 5,5 km distance that the children living in the Serra d’Almos area had to walk every day to get to the nearest school, located in the village of Capçanes.

North-oriented and equipped with hand-carved drainage canals, the terraced vineyard is located on a steep slope at roughly 320 metres of altitude, in a well-ventilated area with excellent sun exposure. Neglected for decades, only 1.5 of its 4 hectares are currently under vine. However, the rest of the vineyard is being meticulously restored by Mr. Josep Grau, who is determined to bring the site, one of the most beautiful in the whole of Montsant, back to its original splendor.

Farmed following organic techniques, the vines were hand-harvested and meticulously sorted. The grapes were fermented in 2,500-litre Stockinger oak vats from Austria. After that, the red wine El Pas de l’Estudiant 2022 was pressed, put back into the vats and aged for 9 months.

Before being released onto the market, this Crianza red wine was kept for some further months in the bottle.

Halfway between Châteauneuf and Burgundy, this red wine from Montsant should be gently decanted 1 hour before drinking.