Josep Grau L’Efecte Volador Blanc 2025

Josep Grau left a career as a city broker to make wine in Marçà, a small village in D.O. Montsant in Catalonia, where his limited range has built a strong reputation. This white blends Garnacha Blanca and Macabeo, two Mediterranean grapes suited to the region's warm days and cool nights. Montsant sits in an amphitheatre of hills around the Priorat, on a mix of clay, limestone and the licorella slate that runs through the area, and the diurnal swing between hot afternoons and cool nights preserves acidity and aromatic freshness in the fruit. The vineyards are farmed organically. Garnacha Blanca brings body and a light aniseed and fennel character, while Macabeo adds green apple and floral lift, and the wine is made to hold its freshness rather than to show oak. The colour is pale straw with green tints. The nose is clean and faintly herbal, with green apple, pear and white flowers over a thread of thyme. The palate is dry and mineral, the orchard fruit framed by citrus peel and a dry, almondy finish. Serve at 9 to 11 degrees. It works well with shellfish, grilled white fish and green salads.