Carles Llarch:
the ceramist who makes wine in his own amphorae
From his workshop in Mata Vella, in Font-Rubí, Carles Llarch shapes wine amphorae by hand and, since 2015, ferments ViTal in them: a natural wine made with the grapes of his friend Josep Queralt Galimany.
Carles Llarch is a ceramist and has worked with clay since 1986. His workshop is in Mata Vella, in Font-Rubí (Alt Penedès), surrounded by vineyards. He sees himself more as a ceramist than as a traditional potter: he studied the craft and applied it to architectural ceramics —he has taken part in heritage restorations, such as the restoration of the spire of the bell tower of the Basilica of Santa Maria in Vilafranca del Penedès— before devoting himself to vessels for wine.
Today he is a ceramist recognised in Spain and beyond, and one of the leading makers of wine amphorae: for more than fifteen years he has researched and developed vessels for winemaking. Paradoxically, Spain is the country where he receives the fewest commissions compared with international ones. But forty years of craft, know-how and artisanship that cannot be improvised have taken him to a place where establishments such as Mugaritz want his natural wines on their list.
His virtue is not only making good ceramics: it is knowing his world first-hand. He has worked with many of the most celebrated wineries of the Mediterranean arc, and it shows in every piece: he knows what a wine needs before the winery can explain it.
Each amphora is a one-off piece, made entirely by hand and designed for a specific wine. Before shaping it, Llarch chooses the clay according to the grape, the style of wine and the grower's way of working, and from that he decides porosity, density and volume. He works with around ten different clays and, for white wines, uses white clay, free of iron oxide, to avoid earthy or metallic notes.
The clay is extracted, left to rest, ground and mixed with water; then it is shaped, dried and fired. His amphorae are oval, with a design inspired by Roman models, have no glaze or resin inside, and he makes fewer than forty a year. Before a large piece, he often tests the clay with small vessels of about five litres to see how the wine evolves in them.
His amphorae are in wineries of the Penedès and the Mediterranean arc: Recaredo, Mas Candí, Alta Alella, Parés Baltà, Heretat Mont-rubí or Joan Rubió (Celler Tiques), among others. For Alta Alella, for example, he made pieces with clay mixed with granite sauló for an orange wine. He prefers to work closely with each winery, listening to what the wine needs.
Outside Spain, his amphorae have reached wineries in countries such as Belgium, England, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine and the United States: his name is far better known among natural-wine makers around the world than at home, and international commissions far outnumber those from Spain.
In 2015 Carles Llarch began making wine with his friend Josep Queralt Galimany. That is how ViTal was born: a friendship project where the vessel is as important as what it holds. All the grapes come from Josep Queralt Galimany, from the vineyards of Font-Rubí; fermentation and ageing take place in the amphorae Carles shapes in his workshop in Mata Vella.
They are natural, minimal-intervention wines: no technology, no temperature control or refrigeration, no stabilising and no filtering, with time and clay as the only allies. The wines are called La ViTal and share one label: a red from Sumoll (the only red of the house), varietals of Macabeo, Parellada, Xarel·lo and Montonega, and an ancestral-method sparkling wine in a cava-style bottle, in white or green glass. The only one with a different label is «To Vi, or not to bi», a white with a drawing made in red ballpoint pen. The grapes ferment directly in the jars, sometimes with the stems, and everything ferments together, with nothing added; after months of fermentation the wine is bottled and keeps evolving in the bottle. Every vintage is unique and never repeated: the harvest is completely different each year, which is why all the wines are limited productions.
Josep Queralt Galimany is an oenologist and grower from Font-Rubí, a friend of Carles Llarch, and the one who provides the vineyard: all the grapes for ViTal come from his vines. Carles brings the clay and the time; Josep, the grapes. This split makes the wine the result of a conversation between the ceramist's craft and the viticulture of the land. Josep tends the land and the vines with ancestral methods, with no chemical method and nothing that could affect the vines or the soil.
Clay is porous: it lets oxygen through very slowly, without giving up the flavours of wood. The wine rounds out and gains texture but keeps its identity. In our article «Amphora wine» we explain the technique from top to bottom, from Georgia to the Mediterranean.
In 2019 the Most Festival, the international wine and cava film festival, screened «Carles Llarch, de terra de vi», a five-minute documentary that visits him in his workshop in the Penedès and shows how he makes an amphora, from the earth to the kiln.
Frequently asked questions about Carles Llarch and ViTal
Carles Llarch is a ceramist from Font-Rubí (Alt Penedès) who makes wine amphorae by hand in his workshop in Mata Vella and who, with Josep Queralt Galimany, makes the natural wine ViTal.
The workshop is in Mata Vella, in the municipality of Font-Rubí, in the Alt Penedès (Barcelona).
ViTal is the wine project of Carles Llarch and Josep Queralt Galimany: unfiltered natural wines, fermented and aged in clay amphorae made by Carles himself, with grapes from Josep.
All the grapes for ViTal belong to Josep Queralt Galimany, an oenologist and grower from Font-Rubí and a friend of Carles Llarch; they come from his vineyards.
Yes: he is recognised in Spain and internationally, and has made amphorae for wineries in countries such as Belgium, England, France, Germany, Greece, Portugal, Russia, Ukraine and the United States. Spain is the country from which he receives the fewest commissions compared with international ones.
Top-level establishments, such as Mugaritz, want his natural wines on their list. Forty years of craft and dealings with many of the most celebrated wineries of the Mediterranean arc have given him first-hand knowledge of his world. At Terroir Radical, ViTal will arrive soon.
Because every vintage is unique and never repeated: the harvest is completely different each year. In addition, Josep Queralt Galimany tends the vines with ancestral methods, with no chemical method, and the wines ferment in Carles Llarch's jars with nothing added.
Each amphora is unique and made by hand for a specific wine: the clay, porosity and volume are chosen according to the grape and wine style. It has no glaze or resin and he makes fewer than forty a year.
Ceramist since 1986, recognised in Spain and abroad, with fewer than forty amphorae a year.
All the grapes for ViTal come from the vineyards of his friend, oenologist and grower.
Unfiltered, unstabilised and with no temperature control.
Alt Penedès wines at Terroir Radical
ViTal will soon join our selection. In the meantime, discover the natural and biodynamic wines in the catalogue.
View the catalogue