Wine history reveals itself at Celler Cooperatiu d´Artés in the liitle village Artés right in D.O. Pla de Bages. The old machinery we normally see in most wineries we visit are just there like some relics. But in Artés however most of this old equipment is still in use!

The tour starts with five enormous grape presses built in 1940. Here the grapes of the 150 members of the cooperation enter the bodega. After pressing the grapes, great part of the fermentation takes place in older tanks made from polyester. Temperature is being controlled with special elements that are lowered into the tanks. Then the wine is put into big underground cement tanks. Here the wine rests before bottling. The capacity of this bodega is enormous, also showing the history of this once huge winegrowing area. (See wines of the world Pla de Bages)

Most wines leave the winery young. This fits perfectly the wines made from the locally grown grape Picapoll. Only a few mature in wooden barrels, most of them oak but some of them made from chestnut.

One might think that the rather old fashioned production methods in this winery result in lesser wines but this is certainly not the case. In the contrary, al the wines we tasted were of an outstanding quality. The wine made of the Picapoll grape matured in chestnut was elegant and different. We also like to mention a Cava with over 60 months of maturation. One of the best Cava’s we have ever tried and at a very reasonable price.

A visit to this bodega is part of our wine excursion to Pla de Bages. Go to the page What we do for more information.