There is no money for sophisticated equipment. There is no place for chemical pesticides. In the Pyrenees, in a farming community, they tend their vines mostly with love and common sense. Hanneke Bijl, Ganne in Catalan, reports for WINELIFE. 'Is this then the promised land?' - TEXT AND PHOTOGRAPHY HANNEKE BIJL
As a musician in Barcelona, I could never have imagined making organic wine again, but fate decided it that way. After almost a year of participating in farming, I know that winemaking is a tough profession that requires a lot of patience, energy, luck, hope and knowledge. During the lockdown, I easily gave up my small, dark house in the city centre for a mobile home with wood-burning stove in the mountains. Suddenly, I had the space to move freely. And to play the trumpet at any time. Physically demanding work awaited in a huge vegetable garden extracting seeds for the organic seed bank. And the vineyard beckoned.
Moving sticks
The Garrotxa is located in the tail of the Pyrenees in north-eastern Catalonia, about 50 kilometres from the Mediterranean Sea. It is a relatively green region and farming is at an altitude of about 400 metres. This rocky area does not have the ideal infrastructure for large wineries, but several small vineyards can be found scattered around the area. The farm has two under its care, totalling some 4,000 m², almost half a hectare.
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