Every September at Celler Mas Doix, the harvest always ends in the same place: the winery door. There, the grapes cease to be fruit of the field and begin the journey that will transform them into wine. But what happens to the grapes in the winery during those first hours, even before fermentation begins?
The answer isn’t a single gesture but a series of swift decisions. The grape bunches arrive with the freshness of the vineyard still intact, and every minute that passes before processing can be noticeable later in the glass. That’s why, as soon as they enter the winery, the grapes undergo a thorough inspection that largely determines what will come.
In general terms, it’s easy to summarize: the grapes arrive, are inspected, selected, destemmed when appropriate, and then placed in a tank or press depending on the type of wine being made. All of this happens within a short timeframe, because the harvested grapes begin to lose freshness from the moment they are cut from the vine.
That first stage of the process doesn’t determine the entire wine, but it does mark its starting point. A grape that arrives in good condition and is handled with care has more room to express itself well later on. A grape that has suffered during transport, on the other hand, carries that problem throughout the rest of the winemaking process.
When the trailers or boxes arrive at the warehouse, the receiving process begins. It’s not an administrative procedure, although it’s sometimes explained that way.
The grapes are weighed, their origin is recorded—which plot they come from, and when they were harvested—and their general condition is checked. The winery staff checks the temperature of the bunches, their moisture level, and whether there are any signs of damage caused by heat, rain, or transport.
Why is this step so important? Because each batch of grapes can have a different destination within the same winery, and knowing where each one comes from helps in making better decisions later. At Celler Mas Doix, for example, the grapes that arrive from Coma de Cases are not the same as those from Les Foreses or La Vicaria: they are plots separated by only a short distance, but the llicorella soil and the temperature fluctuations between day and night mean that each one ripens at its pace. A grape from a specific plot, harvested at a precise moment, may require different treatment than another that has ripened differently.
Not all the grapes that arrive at the winery end up in the same wine, and some of them simply don’t become part of any wine at all.
The selection process begins in the vineyard, before the grapes even reach the winery. It then continues on a sorting table inside the winery. Green bunches, those affected by rot, those that have suffered excessively during transport, or those that simply don’t fit the desired profile for a particular wine are removed. In vineyards cultivated organically since 2016 using biodynamic practices, without chemical treatments to correct what went wrong in the field, this initial selection is even more crucial. In wineries with small, intentional production, this review can even be done berry by berry.
It’s a job that requires time and discernment, not just machinery. On these slopes, where Garnacha and Cariñena are the dominant varieties, that sorting table determines much of what later distinguishes each wine. Although it may seem like a minor detail, the difference between a superficial selection and a rigorous one ultimately becomes noticeable in the wine, especially in wines where the margin of error is much smaller.
Once selected, a large portion of the grapes undergo destemming: the separation of the berry from the stem, that green, woody part of the bunch. Not all the grapes are always destemmed; some wines deliberately incorporate a percentage of whole bunches, seeking to add structure or a different aromatic profile.
From this point, the first actual winemaking decisions begin: whether the grapes will undergo maceration, go directly to the press in the case of white wines, or whether a portion will be reserved for a separate tank within the same variety or plot. At Celler Mas Doix, it is the winemaking team, led by Sergi Batet, who assesses each batch upon arrival and decides its course; some of it comes from century-old vines, planted since 1902, which typically require different treatment than younger plantings. These decisions are not made on the spot, although they are adjusted according to the condition of the grapes that year.
What happens in these first few hours in the winery is not a simple formality before fermentation. It is where, through very specific decisions, the wine that will later reach the glass begins to take shape.
The above is not a generic description: it is, with its nuances, what happens every September on these slopes of Priorat. The work begins earlier, in the vineyard, where Jordi Jutglar and the viticulture team decide when to harvest each plot based on how the season has progressed, and continues in the winery, in the hands of those who decide the path each batch takes once it’s inside.
Seeing the process firsthand, beyond what can be described in writing, is another way to understand wine. At Celler Mas Doix, they organize visits and experiences that bring the harvest and winery work closer to anyone who is keen to learn about them in person. Come and discover Mas Doix and see what happens to the grapes at the winery, from the moment they arrive until the first decisions are made about the wine.