We interviewed Joan Munné, technical director of Raventós y Blanc, after his stay in New Zealand, where he has carried out harvest work for four weeks. An enriching experience both professionally and personally.

He comes from a peasant family in the heart of the Penedès, in Sant Pere de Riudebitlles. He is the youngest of four siblings and the only one who was able to study at university, while still helping out in the fields whenever he could. He is an agricultural engineer, oenologist and sommelier, although he confesses that twenty years ago he did not even drink wine. His love for the land, nature and origin made him change his mind and now he is the technical director of Raventós i Blanc, leading a young team eager to learn.

In this path of permanent evolution, just a month ago he returned from a stay in New Zealand, where he worked in a winery where he met other winemakers from all over the world. A four-week experience that, as he himself says: “has allowed me to disconnect from everything to be able to connect again”.

Joan Munné carrying out biodynamic tasks        Moments of harvesting at Raventós i Blanc

On the other side of the world! Tell us where you have been.

This time I wanted to experience a vintage in New Zealand and thanks to the recommendation of David Gleave, one of our UK importers, I was able to enjoy this experience at Marlborough Vintners, a winery in Blenheim, a village located in the Marlborough area, which is where most of the country’s vineyards are concentrated.

I’m sure it’s a beautiful place…

It is a very dry area, but they have been able to show that, with good agricultural work and good water management, there can be life and biodiversity.

On an excursion to Mount Cook                                    Sunset from Marlborough Vintners

Landscapes aside, you went to work. What was your day-to-day life like?

My jobs were basically in the winery. I was aware of the kilos of grapes that had to come in, planning the presses to be used, pressing musts and sending them to the racking tank; and I also supported other tasks such as fermentation controls.

Perhaps a little far from the field?

Personally, I like all harvesting jobs, but it is true that I consider myself a winemaker who likes to work at source, from the field. Accompanying the grapes to transform them into wine and making sure that they can express the terroir.

To express the terroir. It seems a complicated mission.

Great wines must demonstrate their origin and this requires a high technical knowledge and a lot of precision in the whole process to interpret their origin well with the minimum possible intervention.

However, this needs more time than the four weeks I was there. Nevertheless, the experience has been very good.

Harvest experience at Marlborough Vintners Winery (New Zealand)

Professionally and personally, I understand.

Of course. The atmosphere in the winery was multicultural and this always enriches the experience. I was with Argentines, Chileans, Italians, South Africans, Indians, Australians…. I do not rule out that, in the future, a winemaker may come to Raventós y Blanc to make a vintage. This exchange is always positive.

And, besides friends, what do you take away from the New World?

The idea of freedom, of not having ties or historical backpacks like the ones we have here. In the New World you can plant vines wherever you see fit, make wines without the condition of origin. It is a much laxer way of doing things.

But as far away from ours as New Zealand itself.

Exactly. At Raventós y Blanc, we focus on the terroir, on technical rigor and doing things well. If we want people to talk about Conca del Riu Anoia, our wines must show where they come from.

Harvest at Clos del Serral                                           Grain-by-grain selection for Mas del Serral

And this is one of your functions.

Together with Lore and Mariona, we are a young, hard-working team, eager to learn and improve, and with a passion for what we do. We have been working with Pepe Raventós for years to make our wines capable of transporting those who drink them to our estate, the place where they were born.

Wherever you go, you know where your home is.

There is no other way. When you love the origin, you know that the destination will always take you back.

 

A lover of the territory, he is a great defender of the Conca del Riu Anoia. He knows like few others the potential of our soils, our varieties and their capacity for expression. He loves his work and he invests in every detail to ensure that our wines are recognized around the world while expressing the place they come from. It is his way of showing the world the greatness of a small corner of the northeastern Penedès, of our home, of his home.