Franck Massard is a wine project founded in 2004 by the French sommelier of the same name, based in the United Kingdom, where he was named best UK sommelier in 1996 and trained for the WSET Diploma and the Advanced Sommelier Diploma. It began with the purchase of a first three-hectare plot in Priorat, shared with a friend, where vines grew among olive trees; they fitted out a 70 m² shed and produced the first 500 bottles. In 2007 Huellas, their first wine under DOQ Priorat, was released.
From that initial nucleus the project expanded: in 2008 came Humilitat and Bellesa Perfecta, alongside the more affordable Mas Amor and El Brindis, the latter already under DO Montsant. In 2010 they added old carignan parcels around Serra de Darmós (Montsant), used for El Brindis and Vinya Cucut, a single-varietal carignan from low-yielding vines (around 1.5 kg per vine). Over the years the project extended into Terra Alta, Cava, Galicia and the Meseta, always working in small volumes and with a growing interest in organic and natural, no-added-sulphite wines.
The Priorat wines (Huellas, blending grenache and carignan) and the Montsant wines (Vinya Cucut and El Brindis, also carignan and grenache) share manual harvesting and a philosophy focused on preserving the character of old vines and the identity of each site; Huellas's butterfly-wing label symbolizes the project's commitment to biodiversity.
Imatge: Josep Salvany i Blanch · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Sources: franckmassard.com · franckmassard.com · franckmassard.com