The Dutch Couple, the 14th-Century Masia & the Friday Tasting Room
A Dutch couple who left city life for a 700-year-old Catalan farmhouse at the edge of the Gavarres — Fleur and Bart Obertop make super juicy, cheerful natural wines from 3.5 hectares of hand-harvested vines, open their tasting room every Friday, and rent rooms to guests who wake up among the vines ten minutes from the Costa Brava.
Origin — From the Netherlands to a 14th-Century Masia
The stone walls of Vinyes Mas Pagès were first documented in 1315, when the estate was known as Mas Ginesta des Pontiró — a working farm in the Baix Empordà long before the Dutch Republic existed. By the 16th century, a wedding had renamed it Mas Pagès de Vall-llobrega, and for centuries it passed through Catalan families, survived wars, and watched the Gavarres forest reclaim the hills around it.
In the 21st century, the masia found new stewards. Fleur and Bart Obertop, a Dutch couple with no inherited vineyards and no Catalan ancestry, discovered the property and saw something the locals had begun to overlook: a 700-year-old farmhouse with terraced land, centuries-old olive trees, and the potential to make wine that tasted of the Costa Brava without the industrial scale that had taken over much of the region. They bought the estate, restored the stone buildings with care rather than flash, and planted themselves — literally and figuratively — in the Empordà soil.
The transition was not performative. Fleur and Bart live on the property, tend the vines themselves, and have built their life around the rhythm of the vineyard rather than importing a Dutch business model. They learned Catalan viticulture by doing: pruning in winter, hand-harvesting in summer, fermenting with native yeasts, and discovering which varieties spoke best on their particular patch of Gavarres foothill. The result is a winery that feels both ancient and new — a medieval masia making some of the freshest natural wine in Catalonia.
The Place — Where the Gavarres Meet the Costa Brava
Vinyes Mas Pagès sits on the edge of the Gavarres Natural Park, a protected massif of oak, pine, and Mediterranean scrub that rises between the coastal plain and the interior. The estate is just ten minutes by car from the beaches of Palamós — La Fosca, Platja de Castell, Cala S'Alguer — and yet feels entirely removed from the summer crowds. The microclimate is coastal but moderated by the hills: warm days, cool nights, and the persistent humidity that keeps the vines alive through dry summers.
3.5 Hectares, Hand-Tended
The vineyard covers roughly 3.5 hectares of terraced land around the masia — small enough to be worked entirely by hand, large enough to produce a few thousand bottles a year. There is no tractor dominating the landscape; Fleur and Bart prune, harvest, and sort everything themselves, with occasional help at harvest.
Centuries-Old Olive Trees
Among the vines stand olive trees that predate the Dutch couple by centuries — gnarled, silver-leaved witnesses who produce a small quantity of estate olive oil alongside the wine. The oil is not an afterthought; it is part of the same agricultural philosophy: hand-picked, minimally processed, and sold to guests who taste it beside the wine.
Five Rooms, Two Cottages
The masia functions as a boutique stay with five Catalan-style rooms and two self-contained cottages, each designed for privacy and simplicity. Guests wake to birdsong, swim in the shared pool, and drink wine on terraces that overlook the same vines they will taste at dinner. It is farm-stay tourism without the rustic compromise.
The Palamós Proximity
Girona is 40 minutes away by car; Barcelona is two hours. But the real draw is Palamós — the fishing port and beach town just down the road, where the Obertops buy seafood for their Friday tastings and where guests can swim in the Mediterranean before returning to the vineyard for aperitif. The estate offers the rare combination of coast and mountain, tourism and agriculture.
Winemaking — Super Juicy, Super Cheerful, Zero Additives
Fleur and Bart's wines are described by those who import them as "super sappige en vrolijke natuurwijnen" — super juicy and cheerful natural wines. The description is apt. These are not brooding, intellectual wines; they are immediate, gulpable, and sun-drenched. But they are also rigorously made: hand-harvested, fermented with native yeasts, and produced without pesticides or additives of any kind.
The vineyard is planted to Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Viognier — a Bordeaux-meets-Rhône palette that is unusual for the Empordà, where Carignan and Grenache dominate. The Obertops did not inherit indigenous varieties; they chose these grapes because they believed the coastal climate and Gavarres soils could handle them without the heaviness that often weighs down Bordeaux blends in warmer regions. The result is a house style that is light, pure, and vibrant — reds with crunch rather than extraction, whites with saline freshness rather than tropical weight.
Everything happens in the converted farm buildings: small-batch fermentation, gentle pressing, and aging in neutral vessels. There are no fancy consultants, no flying winemakers, no investor calls. Fleur and Bart taste, decide, and bottle when the wine is ready — which is usually sooner rather than later, since their style favors youthful immediacy over cellar aging.
The Wines — Juicy, Cheerful, and Made for the Terrace
The range is small, seasonal, and designed for immediate pleasure — wines that taste better at 18 degrees on a stone terrace than in a dark cellar. Each cuvée carries the same signature: hand-harvested, native-yeast fermented, and bottled without additives.
Blanc
Estate whiteAn aromatic Mediterranean white showing floral notes, citrus fruit, and freshness. Crisp, subtly saline, and light on its feet — green apple, blossom, and herbal lift with a mineral tension that speaks of the Gavarres foothills. Best drunk young, preferably within sight of the vineyard.
Rosé
Estate roséA pale, dry rosé made from the red Bordeaux varieties — Cabernet Franc and Merlot pressed gently off their skins. Wild strawberry, rose petal, and a saline finish that makes it dangerous at lunch. The kind of rosé that disappears before the main course arrives.
Negre
Estate redThe flagship red — a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Merlot that defies expectations of Bordeaux varieties in a warm climate. Juicy, crunchy, and vibrantly fruity rather than heavy or extracted. Red berry, green pepper, and a stony grip that keeps it honest. Super sappig, as the Dutch say.
Legacy — The Foreigners Who Became Local
Vinyes Mas Pagès matters because it proves that terroir is not about bloodlines. Fleur and Bart Obertop arrived in the Empordà with no family history, no inherited vines, and no claim to the land beyond a mortgage and a vision. Seven centuries after the first Catalan farmers built the masia, a Dutch couple is making wine in its courtyard — and the wine is unmistakably of the place.
Their legacy is the model of integrated tourism: guests who sleep in the vineyard, eat the estate's olive oil, drink the estate's wine, and leave with bottles under their arms. The Friday tastings are not marketing events; they are community gatherings that connect locals, tourists, and the Obertops themselves. In a region where rural depopulation threatens historic farms, Vinyes Mas Pagès shows that a masia can survive — and thrive — by welcoming strangers rather than excluding them.
Through their commitment to natural winemaking without dogma, Fleur and Bart have also demonstrated that the Empordà can support more than Grenache and Carignan. Their Bordeaux-Rhône blend of varieties, handled with northern-European restraint, produces wines that are both distinctly Catalan and distinctly their own. The 14th-century stone walls have seen many owners. These may be the most joyful.