The Architects, the Abandoned Vines & the Two-Letter Gospel
Partida Creus is a pioneering natural winery founded in 2001 in Bonastre, a remote village in Catalonia's Baix Penedès — where two Italian architects, Antonella Gerosa and Massimo Marchiori, left their drafting tables in Turin to rescue forgotten vineyards and revive indigenous grape varieties on the verge of extinction. What began as an escape from the "big city rat race" became one of the most influential natural wine projects in Spain: a living museum of Sumoll, Garrut, Cartoixa Vermell, Trepat, Vinyater, and Xarel·lo, farmed without chemicals, fermented with indigenous yeasts, and bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfur. Their iconic two-letter labels — XL, BN, VN, TP, SO, MUZ — are recognized in natural wine bars from Barcelona to Tokyo. With two donkeys named Orazio and Vincenza working the vineyards, they prove that the best wines are not designed in offices but discovered in abandoned fields, one ancient variety at a time.
The Turin Architects, the Catalan Wilderness & the Abandoned Hand
Partida Creus is not a domaine inherited through generations. It is a radical act of reinvention — the story of two Italian architects who looked at their lives in Turin, looked at the vineyards of Catalonia, and chose the vines. Founded in 2001 in the remote village of Bonastre, an hour south of Barcelona in the Baix Penedès, it is the project of Antonella Gerosa and Massimo Marchiori, both trained in architecture, design, and marketing in their native Piedmont. Tired of what they called the "big city rat race", they left Italy in the mid-1990s, first coming to Barcelona for work, then settling in rural Bonastre in 2001 with a single, audacious intention: to live in harmony with the land.
What they found in Bonastre was not a ready-made wine estate but a landscape of abandoned vineyards — old parcels overgrown with indigenous grape varieties that the modern wine industry had forgotten or actively discarded. Varieties like Sumoll, Garrut, Cartoixa Vermell, Vinyater, and Trepat had been pushed aside in favour of international grapes and high-yielding hybrids. Antonella and Massimo saw not weeds but heritage. They began purchasing and recuperating these parcels, clearing the brush, restoring the vines, and building a cellar in an abandoned cottage. The name Partida Creus refers to the ancient stone crosses that once marked the boundary lines between vineyard parcels — a nod to the deep agricultural memory of the region and the couple's commitment to preserving it.
Their approach was — and remains — radically natural. No chemicals anywhere in the winemaking process. No herbicides, no synthetic fertilizers, no selected yeasts, no enzymes, no fining, no filtration, no added sulfur. In the vineyard, they are assisted by two donkeys, Orazio and Vincenza, who plough the soils and embody the project's rejection of mechanization. Although they initially pursued organic and biodynamic certifications, in 2017 they withdrew from both, feeling that the regulatory agencies had become more focused on bureaucracy than on genuine agricultural practice. Their philosophy is distilled to its essence in their own words: "Wine is nothing more than fermented grape juice" — a statement of radical simplicity that defines everything they do.
From the beginning, Partida Creus focused on single-varietal bottlings of indigenous grapes — a decision that was both aesthetic and political. By bottling Sumoll on its own, or Trepat, or Garrut, they were making a statement: these grapes are not blending material; they are noble varieties with their own stories to tell. The wines are vibrant, light, pure, and assertive — wines of sunlight and limestone, of Mediterranean breeze and ancient vine. The iconic two-letter labels — XL for Xarel·lo, TP for Trepat, SO for Samsó, MUZ for their vermouth — have become a visual language recognized across the natural wine world. What started as a personal escape has become a beacon for the natural wine movement in Spain and beyond.
Bonastre, the Massís de Bonastre & the Mediterranean Hand
Bonastre is a small village in the Baix Penedès, the lower Penedès region of Catalonia, about an hour's drive south of Barcelona and inland from the Mediterranean coast. It sits within the Massís de Bonastre, a limestone massif that rises from the coastal plain like a geological afterthought — a place of clay, limestone, and gypsum soils, of scrubland and pine forest, of silence broken only by wind and the occasional bray of a donkey. For Antonella and Massimo, Bonastre is not merely a location but a philosophy made geography: remote enough to escape the wine tourism circuit, poor enough that land was affordable, and ancient enough that the vines they found had been growing there for decades without human interference.
The climate is Mediterranean with continental influences — hot, dry summers tempered by sea breezes, mild winters, and enough rainfall to sustain dry-farmed vines. The soils are predominantly clay-calcareous with gypsum deposits, a combination that stresses the vines, concentrates the fruit, and imparts a distinctive mineral signature to the wines. The vineyards are scattered across the Massís at elevations between 170 and 260 metres, on slopes that face south and west, capturing the sun while allowing drainage. Many of the parcels are 30 to 70 years old — ancient by Penedès standards — with deep root systems that draw water and minerals from the fractured limestone below.
Partida Creus works across two distinct regions: the Baix Penedès, where their home and most of their vineyards are located, and the Conca de Barberà, where they source grapes from older parcels of varieties like Trepat and Samsó that thrive in the slightly cooler, higher-altitude terroir. The Conca de Barberà is a historic wine region inland from Tarragona, known for its limestone soils and its tradition of light, fresh reds — a perfect complement to the solar energy of the Baix Penedès. Together, these two regions give Partida Creus a palette of terroirs that ranges from the Mediterranean generosity of Bonastre to the mineral precision of the Conca.
The Baix Penedès is the southern, coastal half of the Penedès wine region — a landscape of rolling hills, limestone outcrops, and Mediterranean scrub that stretches from the coast inland toward the Massís de Bonastre. It is warmer and drier than the Alt Penedès, with a climate that produces wines of ripe fruit, generous texture, and immediate appeal. For Partida Creus, the Baix Penedès is home: the place where Antonella and Massimo built their cellar, where Orazio and Vincenza plough the clay-limestone soils, and where varieties like Xarel·lo, Macabeu, Sumoll, and Garrut find their most authentic expression. The village of Bonastre, with its 100-odd inhabitants and its silence, is the anti-Barcelona — a place where wine is made without noise, without trends, and without compromise.
The Conca de Barberà is a wine region in the province of Tarragona, inland from the Mediterranean and sheltered by the Prades Mountains. It is cooler and higher in altitude than the Baix Penedès, with limestone soils that produce wines of greater acidity, finer tannins, and more pronounced mineral character. Partida Creus sources grapes here for varieties that need the Conca's particular conditions — Trepat, the ancestral red grape of the region, and Samsó (Cariñena), which finds a second home in the Conca's old vineyards. The Conca gives Partida Creus a northern, more serious voice in their portfolio — a counterweight to the solar generosity of Bonastre, and a reminder that Catalonia's wine identity is as diverse as its geography.
Partida Creus is, above all, a living museum of Catalan grape varieties — a project of viticultural archaeology that has rescued dozens of indigenous grapes from extinction. Sumoll, the thin-skinned, high-acid red that was once dismissed as unworkable, is now one of their signature varieties. Garrut, a rare clone of Monastrell found only in the Penedès, produces wines of dark fruit and Mediterranean herbs. Cartoixa Vermell, a pink-skinned variety with aromatic complexity, is bottled as a skin-contact orange wine. Trepat, the light, floral red of the Conca de Barberà, is aged in glass demijohns and oak barrels to preserve its delicacy. Vinyater, Moscatel d'Alexandria, Pansé, Subirat Parent — the list goes on, each variety a chapter in a book that Antonella and Massimo are still writing. In many cases, Partida Creus is the only winery in the world working with these grapes.
Everything at Partida Creus is done without chemicals — not as a certification checkbox but as a way of life. The vineyards are farmed organically, with Orazio and Vincenza providing gentle, non-compacting cultivation. Harvest is by hand, in small cases, with grapes transported quickly to the cellar to preserve their indigenous yeast populations. In the winery, the approach is equally minimal: wild fermentations, no temperature control, no additions, no fining, no filtration. The whites are often given brief skin maceration (one to three days) to extract texture and phenolic complexity. The reds are destemmed and macerated gently for five to nine days before pressing. Aging happens in a mix of stainless steel tanks, old French oak barrels, and glass demijohns — never new oak, never wood flavour, only time and oxygen. The result is wines that taste of grape, place, and intention — nothing more, nothing less.
Wild Fermentation, Zero Additions & the Fermented Hand
The winemaking philosophy of Partida Creus is one of radical non-intervention and absolute transparency — a doctrine so pure it borders on the monastic. Antonella and Massimo believe that the wine has already been made by the vineyard, the sun, and the ancient vine; their job is to not ruin it. This is not laziness or negligence but a discipline of restraint that requires more vigilance, more intuition, and more courage than any enological textbook can teach. In their own words: "Partida Creus is not just a winery; it's a way of understanding wine as a link between nature and those who enjoy it."
The whites are made with brief skin maceration — one to three days for most cuvées — followed by pressing and fermentation in stainless steel tanks or old barrels. The BN (Blanco Natural) is a blend of Macabeu, Parellada, Vinyater, and Garnatxa Blanca from 30-50 year-old vines, destemmed and macerated for two to three days before pressing to tank, where it rests on fine lees until bottling the following spring. The VN (Vinel·lo Blanco) is a field blend of Garnatxa Blanca, Macabeu, Xarel·lo, Moscatel d'Alexandria, Vinyater, Pansé, and Parellada — all harvested just before full ripeness, foot-trodden in whole bunches with one to two days maceration, then pressed to tank for fermentation and lees aging until bottling in June. The MC (Macabeo) comes from a single parcel of over 50-year-old vines on clay and limestone at 230 metres, macerated for three days before pressing to tank. And the SP (Subirat Parent) — also known as Malvasía Fenicia — is macerated for three days, fermented in tank, then racked to 300-litre French oak barrels where a veil of flor forms and protects the wine for one year of aging, creating a wine of extraordinary saline complexity and oxidative nuance.
The reds are made with the same low-extraction, low-intervention philosophy. The TN (Tinto Natural) blends Ull de Llebre (Tempranillo), Merlot, and Syrah from 30-50 year-old vines, destemmed and macerated for six to nine days before pressing to tank and aging on fine lees until spring bottling. The VN (Vinel·lo Tinto) is a field blend of Garnatxa Negra, Sumoll, Garrut, Trepat, and Cariñena from a 35-year-old vineyard, harvested separately just before full ripeness, foot-trodden in whole bunches with two to three days maceration, then pressed to tank for fermentation and lees aging until July bottling. The GN (Garnatxa Negra) comes from an abandoned clone formerly cultivated along the seashore, replanted in 2014 within a protected nature preserve on sandy limestone soils; it is macerated for five days, then racked to 300-litre chestnut barrels for malolactic fermentation and one year of aging. And the TP (Trepat) — perhaps their most iconic red — comes from a clone of the ancestral Conca de Barberà variety planted in Bonastre in 2016 on clay and limestone at 260 metres; it is macerated for seven days, then fermented and aged for one year in 54-litre glass demijohns before a final year in 300-litre French oak barrels, resulting in a wine of breathtaking delicacy, floral perfume, and silken texture.
What emerges from the cellar in Bonastre is a portfolio of extraordinary diversity and unmistakable character — wines that taste of nothing but grape and place, yet manage to be among the most expressive and sought-after natural wines in the world. The XL (Xarel·lo Ancestral) is a pet-nat of 100% Xarel·lo from vines planted in 1993-95, skin-macerated for two days, bottled under crown cap at 1002 gravity, and aged in bottle for a year before release — a wine of green citrus, fine bubbles, and electric acidity. The CL (Clarete) is a co-fermentation of two-thirds Garnatxa Blanca and one-third Garnatxa Negra from Terra Alta, macerated separately and then co-fermented in a 10,000-litre tank over winter — a wine of pale ruby, wild strawberry, and Mediterranean herb. And the MUZ Vermouth is a world apart: a portion of base wine distilled and macerated with 51 botanicals, then blended with oxidized white wine and a touch of sugar, aged in used 300-litre oak barrels for six months — a vermouth of staggering complexity, bitter elegance, and herbal depth that has no equal in the natural wine world.
Wild Yeast, Zero Additions & the Covenant of Fermented Grape Juice
The guiding principle of Partida Creus is that wine is nothing more than fermented grape juice — and anything that interferes with that fermentation is a betrayal of the grape, the vine, and the drinker. The organic and natural farming provides healthy, complex grapes with robust indigenous yeast populations. The cellar work is deliberately primitive: no selected yeasts, no enzymes, no tartaric acid, no tannin powder, no temperature control, no fining, no filtration, no added sulfur. The brief skin macerations add texture and phenolic interest without creating heavy orange wines. The old barrels and glass demijohns add no wood flavour but allow slow, gentle maturation. The flor on the Subirat Parent creates a wine of saline, oxidative complexity that could only happen in a cellar that trusts nature completely. For Antonella and Massimo, this is not dogma but the only way they know how to work — the way they learned by doing, by failing, by listening to the vineyards they rescued from abandonment. The result is wines of light, purity, and assertive, vibrant character — wines that make you understand why they left Turin, why they chose Bonastre, and why they will never go back.
The Two-Letter Alphabet, the Indigenous Chorus & the Honest Hand
The Partida Creus portfolio is an alphabet of indigenous Catalan wine — a collection of two-letter cuvées that reads like a code for those initiated into the natural wine world. Each wine is a single-varietal or field-blend expression of a grape variety that Partida Creus has rescued, restored, and revealed to a global audience. The wines span white, orange, red, rosé, sparkling, and vermouth — all united by organic sourcing, wild fermentation, zero additions, and a philosophy of radical transparency that privileges the voice of the grape over the hand of the winemaker. Production is small and highly allocated, with many cuvées limited to a few thousand bottles, making these wines among the most sought-after in the natural wine community. The cuvées are distributed through specialist natural wine importers across Europe, Asia, and the Americas, appearing in the world's most discerning natural wine bars, restaurants, and shops.
The Architects, the Abandoned Vines & the Catalan Crown
Partida Creus is not merely a winery; it is an act of cultural resistance — a two-decade project in a remote Catalan village, founded by two Italian architects who looked at the modern wine world and chose the opposite path. In an era when the wine industry is obsessed with homogenization, international varieties, and point-chasing, Antonella and Massimo have demonstrated that the most profound wines sometimes come from abandoned vineyards, forgotten grapes, and a cellar where the only technology is patience. They have proven that Sumoll — once dismissed as unworkable — can produce wines of extraordinary delicacy. That Trepat — relegated to rosé and Cava blends — can rival Pinot Noir for finesse. That a vermouth made with 51 botanicals and no industrial shortcuts can be the most complex drink in the room. And that two donkeys named Orazio and Vincenza can plough a vineyard with more wisdom than any tractor.
The legacy of Partida Creus is the legacy of the architect's eye and the farmer's hand. Antonella and Massimo did not inherit a wine estate; they built one from ruins, using the skills they learned in Turin — observation, design, patience — and applying them to a landscape that had been forgotten by the modern world. They saw beauty where others saw weeds. They saw potential where others saw abandonment. And they saw wine where others saw only grape juice. Their withdrawal from organic and biodynamic certification in 2017 was not a retreat but an advance — a declaration that their commitment to natural methods was too deep to be contained by bureaucracy, and that their wines would be their own certification.
The future of the project is tied to the future of natural wine in Spain and beyond — to the growing recognition that the country's greatest viticultural asset is not its Rioja or its Cava but its indigenous varieties, its ancient vines, and its human capital: the vignerons who have the courage to work without chemicals, to ferment without additions, and to bottle without filters. As the XL continues to prove that Catalan pet-nat can rival Champagne for precision and energy, as the TP demonstrates that Trepat can be one of the world's great light reds, as the SP invents a new category of flor-aged Catalan white, and as the MUZ vermouth becomes a reference point for artisanal aromatized wines everywhere, Antonella and Massimo remain what they have always intended to be: two architects who became farmers, who rescue abandoned vines in a remote Catalan village, who believe that wine is nothing more than fermented grape juice, and who are proving that the best wines are not designed in offices but discovered in fields — one ancient variety, one two-letter label, one honest cuvée at a time.
"Partida Creus is not just a winery; it's a way of understanding wine as a link between nature and those who enjoy it."
— Antonella Gerosa & Massimo Marchiori, Bonastre, Baix Penedès