Why it matters
The producer
In 1942, Josep Maria Tetas set up a winery in Vilafranca del Penedès, the market town at the heart of Catalan wine country. The winery he built, Bodegas Pinord, has stayed in the Tetas family across three generations, with each one adding a new ambition to the last. The founding generation invented sparkling wine; a later generation converted the entire operation to biodynamic farming and earned Spain's first Demeter certification. The range has since extended beyond sparkling Penedès into organic still wines from Terra Alta.
Josep Maria Tetas launched Bodegas Pinord in 1942 from a winery in Vilafranca, close to the original family estate. His first major project was REYNAL, which the importer Mission Wine and Spirits describes as Spain's first sparkling wine in the frizzante style. Tetas studied isobaric fermentation methods inspired by frizzante wines from France, Germany, and Italy, aiming to capture natural bubbles while preserving the fresh fruit of the grape. The wine sold quickly, and Pinord began exporting, becoming one of the reference wineries in Penedès by the mid-twentieth century.
Place and vineyards
Where the wines begin
Vilafranca del Penedès sits inland from Barcelona, in a broad plateau sheltered by the Garraf massif to the southeast and the mountains of Montserrat to the north. The Penedès appellation covers this plateau and the vine-covered slopes around it, historically best known for the sparkling wines of nearby Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Pinord's still wines reach farther west, into Terra Alta, a high-altitude appellation in southern Catalonia where Garnacha has deep roots and the dry continental climate produces wines with soft tannins and ripeness without the weight that warmer coastal zones can bring.
In the cellar
Vineyards and cellar
Pinord farms estate vineyards across Penedès and Terra Alta. The organic Diorama Garnacha comes from Terra Alta, where the viticulture is certified by CCPAE, the Catalan organic certification body. In the cellar for that wine, grapes are destemmed and macerated for ten days before the skins are pressed off. The wine is then racked several times for stabilisation and aged in barrel for four months to develop tannin and colour, then filtered and bottled.
The Nox Mistery Red is built on Tempranillo from Penedès. It receives barrel ageing that develops cedar and oak aromas over time, alongside the variety's characteristic ripe fruit.
Wines to know
The range in view
The range spans sparkling, organic still reds, and still whites across Penedès and Terra Alta. Diorama Garnacha is a certified-organic red from Terra Alta, light in body with soft tannins, fermented and aged in barrel for four months. Nox Mistery Red uses Tempranillo from Penedès, with more concentration and body than the Diorama, showing ripe fruit and cedar from barrel ageing and a long finish. Nox Snow White and the Diorama Verdejo extend the range into whites. Porto Dos Santos Tawny, aged between fifteen and twenty years in 650-litre barrels at 19.0% alcohol, is a separate style within the portfolio, sweet and oxidative.
Diorama Garnacha opens with plum and red fruits, and with aeration the glass releases spicier notes: cinnamon and preserves alongside the primary fruit. On the palate the wine is light, with soft tannins and fresh acidity. The four months in barrel add colour and a gentle grip without making the wine heavy.
A useful way in
A bottle to begin with
Diorama Garnacha is the bottle that shows what the organic arm of the Pinord range produces. It is Garnacha from Terra Alta, grown under CCPAE organic certification, macerated for ten days, and aged four months in barrel. The wine opens with plum and red fruit, softens into cinnamon and preserved fruit with air, and finishes fresh with low tannin. Tempranillo-based Nox Mistery Red offers more weight and oak if that is the direction, but the Diorama shows the lighter, aromatic side of the range and the Terra Alta appellation at its clearest.