Bell Cros is a young winery in DO Montsant, founded in 2017 by Swedish couple Ann and Peter Skoglund, who spent their first year acquiring seven neighbouring vineyard plots around Falset. The name itself tells the story: "bell" is Catalan for beautiful, and "cros" is an old local word for a valley or hollow, so Bell Cros translates roughly as "our beautiful valley" in the heart of Montsant.
The winery works mainly with Garnacha and Carignan, the region's signature varieties, sourced largely from old vines aged 40 to 70 years, some of them a century old (as with the Selecció Delfí wine, made from vines planted in 1910). From this fruit they produce reds, whites, rosés and sparkling wines, alongside a limited experimental series called ONE OFF. Both vineyard and winery are EU-organic certified, and the wines are vegan-friendly.
As a relatively new project that pairs an outsider's perspective with local knowledge -consulting Catalan winemaker Joan Asens advises the team- Bell Cros describes itself as "a new vineyard with old vines," aiming to express Montsant terroir with an approachable, hands-on spirit. The winery runs visits and tastings, including blending workshops where guests assemble their own wine from barrels and tanks, paired with local food such as Catalan butifarra sausage.
Imatge: Falset.2.0 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: bellcros.com · bellcros.com