Oliver Conti is a young winery, that dates back to 1991 when Jordi and Xavier Oliver started replanting the estate in Capmany, in the Empordà - Costa Brava region. The Oliver brothers had no prior link with this area, (nor the wine world) but after inspecting vineyards and analysing soils all over the wineproducing regions of Catalunya, they decided on this area for the combination of soil type, climate and position.
     The soil is very low in organic material, made up primarily of granite and and the existing vines were removed to level some of the fields and introduce adequate drainage. By 1992, they started to plant the 14 hectares with foreign varieties: Gewurtzraminer and Sauvignon Blanc for the whites, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc for the reds.

The vines are trellised along wires up to 1.80 metres (6 feet) off the ground, defying one of the area's most characteristic features: The Tremuntana north wind. The height of the trellisses is designed to provide maximum insolation for both the leaves of the vines and the grapes, and for protection against mildiu and oidium, but the rows need to be aligned with the prevailing wind to avoid damage from the Tremuntana. The vines are pruned according to the short double guyot system, which combined with the trellis system keeps the leaves high up on the vines, with the grapes open to the sun below them. The high daily temperature variation between the warm days and cooler nights in the summer (helped by the sea breeze) also contributes to the good sanitary condition of the grapes. Unusually, the vineyards are not ploughed at all, to maintain the quality of the soil without excessively breaking it up, and weeds are kept under control both by the plastic laid along the rows, and through control of the growth between the rows (this is achieved with a machine that effectively beats the grasses rather than cutting them). Compared to vineyards I had visited before, this is a revolutionary technique. Whilst all the day to day work is looked after by Jordi Oliver, an oenologist in his own right, throughout the project they have been advised by André Crespy, Professor of Viticulture at the University of Montpellier.

The grapes are machine harvested (click here to see how this is done), with the white varieties being picked at night to ensure the grapes maintain their freshness and aromatic qualities. Timing is particularly important, as the Gewurtzraminer matures very quickly in the local climate. The modern cellar is situated at the centre of the vineyards, and makes use of the natural slope of the terrain to avoid having to pump the wine from one place to another. Both red and white wines are fermented at low temperature to maintain the aromatic qualities of the grapes and avoid extracting excessive tannins, the white fermenting at around 16°C, and the red at 18°C. Fermentation is in relatively small food-grade fiberglass tanks, with water-fed cooling rods submerged in the wine to control the temperature. The use of fiberglass rather than stainless steel has two advantages, enabling the use of "floating" lids to the tanks which can be lowered to the level of the wine, and hermetically sealed at that height. Furthermore, the material is a poor conductor of heat, minimising temperature fluctuations in the wine. As is usual in the case of red wines, the wine is fermented together with the skins and pulp. After the period of maceration, a mobile press (see above right) is moved to the foot of each tank, and the grapes are pressed.

In the case of the red, it then spends a judicious period in French Oak barrels. Oliver Conti are particularly keen to avoid excessive use of oak in their wines, and consider the primary benefit of barrel ageing to be micro-oxygenation. Of course this is not the only benefit of a period of criança, but their primary aim is not to imbue the wine with excessive oak influence. To this end, the wine spends just four months in French oak, in a combination of new, second and third year barrels. The result is that the primary impression of the red is one of elegance, and of a wine ready to drink from the moment it is released. Nonetheless, the red is expected to evolve favourably for at least five years. After bottling the whites in June, and the reds in late October, the wine is then kept in a temperature-controlled warehouse for around a year prior to release.