Dis&Dis

Most Cava is made inland, in the Penedès, far from the coast.

Alta Alella is different.

Josep Maria and Cristina built this family estate steps from the Mediterranean Sea, just kilometres from Barcelona, farming organically in one of Catalonia's smallest and most historically significant appellations — D.O. Alella. Their daughters Mireia and Georgina grew up in these vineyards, absorbing knowledge, passion and the conviction that transparency in winemaking is not a choice but an obligation.

The Laietà Rosé Gran Reserva is their most patient expression: 100% Monastrell, cold macerated to extract its distinctive pale tile colour and floral character, then given a minimum of 30 months of traditional method Gran Reserva ageing.

Violets. Red fruit. Fine persistent bubbles. The sea in every glass.

👉 Shop Cava Laietà Rosé Gran Reserva Organic 2017 — link in comments

We were in the vineyards of DO Empordà this week, and we wanted to show you something most people never see.

Flowering season.

It happens once a year, for roughly ten days, and it is the most critical and fragile moment in the entire wine calendar. Those tiny green clusters in these photos — barely visible between the leaves — are the future grapes. Right now, the vines are in full bloom. If the weather holds, the flowers set into berries and the harvest begins to take shape. If it doesn't — one cold night, one heatwave at the wrong moment, too much rain — the flowers drop and the yield is gone. No second chances.

Winemakers use a rule of thumb called the 100-day rule: from the moment flowering sets into fruit, count forward roughly 100 days and you find harvest. Flowering in late May points directly to a September harvest in Empordà.

This is why every vintage is different. The wine in your glass carries the memory of a specific week, in a specific place, under specific skies. This week, in these vines, is where the 2026 vintage begins.

DO Empordà sits on the Costa Brava in northeastern Spain, where the Tramuntana wind shapes everything — the landscape, the soil, the character of the grape. It produces wines worth knowing.

👉 Explore our Empordà selection at disndis.com — link in comments