The Programmer & the Organized Anarchy

The story of Mendall begins with a computer programmer. In the mid-1990s, Laureano Serres Montagut was working in Madrid, writing code and living the urban life, when he decided that a change of scenery was necessary. He returned to his hometown of El Pinell de Brai in 1996 — a hot, dusty little town in the Terra Alta region of Catalonia, southwest of Tarragona, that looks like something out of a Spaghetti Western. The following year, he became president of the Catedral del Vi, a functioning wine cooperative of immense architectural grandeur, designed by students of Gaudí prior to the Spanish Civil War as a monument to working-class solidarity. Laureano was sympathetic to the cooperative's mission of producing affordable wine for real people, but he quickly lost interest in a model that prioritised quantity over craft.

In 1999, Laureano set up shop directly across the street from the Catedral, vinifying 500 litres of a traditional Catalan field blend from his grandfather's vines at Finca Caibelles and baptising the new domaine as Mendall. During those first few years, he replanted fallow parts of the vineyard with Bordeaux varieties — seen at the time as the prerequisite for "wines of quality," an irony that in retrospect strikes him as dark comedy. From the beginning, he was committed to working with organic grapes and wild fermentation, but it was only after 2003, when he "forgot" to use SO2, that the real period of experimentation began. He enjoyed the result so much that he never looked back. In those early days, he made friends with the late Marcel Lapierre, who introduced him to the world of natural winemakers in France. It didn't take long for Laureano to learn the ropes.

By the late 2000s, Laureano was experimenting with everything from carbonic maceration to fermentation in amphora — a necessary period of trial and error for what would come next. He became one of the original founders of the Brutal Wine Corporation in 2010, alongside Anthony Tortul and others, establishing the zero/zero principle: zero additives, zero reductives, nothing added and nothing taken out. He also co-founded H2O Vegetal with Joan Ramón Escoda, one of Europe's most talked-about natural wine fairs, held in Pinell de Brai itself — a pool party and tasting that brings together small natural winemakers from Spain and beyond. Many years ago, Laureano often packed his van full of eager young vignerons and drove up to Barcelona with unfinished samples. Most tasters dismissed them as heretics, but a few had the good sense to see what is now obvious: these young utopians were on a mission to restore what those who built the grand cooperatives of the 1930s had lost — a basis for real solidarity among artisan farmers.

Today, Laureano is joined by his daughter Alícia Serres Brianzo, who has completed her winemaking studies and now works side-by-side with her father, offering her own energy and vigour to the next chapter of Mendall. The project remains family-run, with all processes done more or less manually and as a family. As Laureano says, they all share the "blame" and the "merit" for any consequences. They almost always undertake things laughing, and they are a great team that complements each other very well. Sometimes they fight, but that's okay because anger never lasts forever — it's very tiring.

The guiding philosophy of Mendall is expressed in three words: spontaneity, creativity, and zero. Laureano's cellar work might be described as "organized anarchy" — though certain parcels are always vinified in the "traditional" manner (pressed whites, macerated reds, bottled dry), every harvest brings surprises. On a surface of about 5.5 hectares, Laureano might make up to 16 cuvées: macerated whites, red/white co-ferments, barely sparkling frizzantes, and oxidative Garnatxas. Anything is possible, and most decisions are made spontaneously, based on the conditions of the harvest. This is not chaos for its own sake; it is a deeply responsive, intuitive approach that treats each vintage as a unique conversation between vine, weather, and winemaker.

The methodology is deliberately minimal and fundamentally non-invasive. All grapes are hand-harvested and selected in the field. Fermentation is always spontaneous with indigenous yeasts. Since 2003, no sulfur has been added to any Mendall wine. There is no fining and no filtration. The wines are made in all manner of vessels — amphorae, stainless steel tanks, old barrels, and cuves — depending on the wine and the vintage. Limited space in the tiny town-centre cellar dictates that the majority of wines are bottled young, brimming with an energy that comes from Laureano's unique brand of winemaking, which combines creativity and restraint to brilliant effect. The Brutal cuvée, in particular, adheres to the strict zero/zero principle: zero additives and zero reductives, meaning nothing is added and nothing is taken out.

The special cuvées are made with the same care and zero intervention. Terme de Laureano is Macabeo from 40-year-old vines at 470 metres, given a direct press and fermented and aged in stainless steel. Terme de Guiu La Plana M is Macabeo from a young vineyard at 470 metres, part racked off after short skin maceration and part pressed at the end, blended and aged in a single 2,000-litre amphora. Brutal is Macabeo from a 45-year-old vineyard, half direct-press aged in amphora, half with a week of skin maceration aged in steel. La Thierrica de Barri is a blend of Garnatxa from a 20-year-old vineyard in El Pinell de Brai and Carinyena from a 35-year-old parcel in Terra Alta, fermented in cuve and moved to an old barrel gifted by Thierry Puzelat. Each wine is bottled without fining, filtration, or added SO2.

The cellar is not a technological facility; it is a small, working space in the town centre — directly across from the Catedral del Vi — where amphorae sit alongside stainless steel tanks and old barrels, where Laureano and Alícia do the work by hand and by intuition. There is no consultant recommending corrective enzymes, no recipe that overrides the vintage, no pressure to produce industrial wines or polished, sterile bottles. There is only the family, the ancient vines, the limestone amphitheater, and the patience to let each harvest take the form it wants. The result is a portfolio of wines that are honest, precise, and alive — wines that have earned a place on the wine lists of the world's most discerning restaurants. As one importer noted, Laureano's contribution to Catalan wine is nothing short of revolutionary — and it all began with 500 litres and a forgotten dose of sulfur.

To understand Mendall, one must understand that it is not merely a winery; it is a revolution disguised as a party — a project that has transformed Terra Alta from a forgotten bulk-wine region into one of the most dynamic natural wine communities in Europe. The identity of the project is defined by the Brutal Wine Corporation — the zero/zero movement that Laureano co-founded in 2010, establishing the principle that nothing should be added to wine and nothing taken out. The identity is also defined by H2O Vegetal — the wine fair Laureano organizes with Joan Ramón Escoda, a raucous, generous, poolside gathering that embodies the solidarity and joy of the natural wine community. The estate is not a monoculture; it is a ground zero — the unlikely centre of a movement. The result is a portfolio of wines that are not merely products but expressions of a philosophy and a community — each bottle a testament to the conviction that wine should be honest, spontaneous, and deeply respectful of the people who make and drink it.

The identity is also defined by Laureano himself — his frenetic energy, his deep loyalty to friends and family, his extreme generosity, and his gargantuan appetite for wine. His affable manners conceal a profound influence on the natural wine movement, making his revolutionary ideas seem ordinary, even provincial. He was there the night the Brutal Wine Corporation was founded. He packs his van full of eager young vignerons and drives to Barcelona with unfinished samples. He organises pool parties that turn into tastings that turn into movements. He is, in essence, the godfather of Catalan natural wine — a man who restored what the grand cooperatives of the 1930s had lost: a basis for real solidarity among artisan farmers. On the surface, it may seem like a raucous party — and it is! — but the work is serious, and the legacy is permanent.

The identity is also defined by refusal — the refusal to add sulfur, the refusal to fine or filter, the refusal to chase high scores from critics who favour generic international styles, the refusal to abandon the cooperative spirit for corporate profit, and the refusal to treat wine as a commodity rather than a cultural and communal product. Laureano and Alícia have kept their range playful and experimental, resisting the pressure to standardise or narrow their focus. They have moved from Bordeaux varieties to indigenous grapes, from cooperative quantity to artisanal craft, from sulfur to zero-zero. But they have never abandoned the traditions that make Terra Alta what it is: the Garnatxa, the Macabeo, the Carinyena, and the limestone that gives them their nerve. The wines reflect this intentionality: they are not radical, not rustic, not naive. They are precise, traditional, and deeply considered — the product of a programmer's logic and a farmer's heart converging on 5.5 hectares of limestone.

The future of Mendall is tied to the continued health of its 5.5 hectares, the maturation of Alícia's vision alongside her father's, and the gradual deepening of the Terra Alta natural wine community that Laureano has built. Laureano and Alícia are eager to continue — to explore new expressions of the Pinell de Brai and Terme de Guiu terroirs, to deepen their understanding of the mosaic of limestone, clay, and sand, and to obtain ever more precise, elegant, and terroir-driven expressions from the fruit of their own ancient vines. The Terme de Laureano will continue to be the high-elevation ambassador, the Brutal the zero/zero icon, and the La Thierrica the wild blend. They do not chase trends; they chase the truth of their harvest, and they have the spontaneity to let that truth take whatever form it wants.

In an age of increasing industrialisation in wine — of global varieties, engineered yeasts, and corporate consolidation — Mendall stands as a compelling alternative, not because it rejects modernity but because it has embraced a deeper modernity: one that values organic farming over chemical convenience, biodynamic practice over synthetic inputs, dry-farming over irrigation, indigenous varieties over international clones, indigenous yeasts over inoculation, amphora and steel over new oak intrusion, zero sulfur over heavy dosing, spontaneous creativity over rigid recipes, community solidarity over corporate expansion, and the specific voice of Terra Alta's limestone over the standardised replication of a global style. Laureano Serres and Alícia Serres are not merely making wine; they are proving that a former computer programmer can become the godfather of a movement, that 5.5 hectares of dusty limestone can produce wines of international recognition, that a forgotten dose of sulfur can change everything, and that the simplest philosophy — let the harvest speak, and bottle it young — is often the most profound. From the first 500 litres in 1999 to the wines of today: all united in one revolution, one synthesis, one unanswerable argument for the possibility of authentic, organic, hand-made, passionately honest wine from the limestone heart of Catalonia.