Thatcher's Imports Spain Trip: Live Blogging Day 1, part II - Ex Occidente

Day One, Part II: Ex Occidente (Bernat Voraviu)

Without having met the man previously, and only reading his breathless, biannual emails to us, I couldn’t quite grasp it until now; Bernat Voraviu is a connector of people. Watching him buzz around Alkimia, bouncing from one corner to the next, and instantaneously creating a connection with each person whose path he crossed, it hit me. Bernat was one of the first in Spain that Thatcher had linked with - through yet another one of Bernat’s infinite connections in France - and in Spain, he has been invaluable in linking us with those who we meet on this trip. Oh, he also makes wine!

It’s been about two and a half years since we last received any Ex Occidente from Bernat, but he’s been perilously busy in the meantime. As an importer and distributor in Spain, a winemaker, a part-time sommelier [at who knows how many fantastic restaurants], he somehow finds time to pursue - and stumble across - fantastic vineyard land. With a new release entering the portfolio this year for him, we got to spend some time learning about all of his travails since we’d last seen his bottles.

First, the wine we knew, Ex Occidente Roig de la Figuera returns; since the 2021 vintage released, Spain underwent a wild drought, producing ripeness levels for some that few had imagined. This also means, especially in ancient-vined plots in a desert, that quantity is insanely low. So low, in fact, that Bernat ended up blending the 2022 and 2023 vintages together; this wasn’t intended at first, but quickly became apparent as a possibility the more he tasted the wines. As far as the ripeness, you ask? 2021 was sub-12% alcohol. The 22/23 is up to 12.4 (listed at 12). And you know what? Of course it’s delicious. It’s smoky, red-fruited, elegant, lifted and complex. You can feel the vine stress, especially once you know the tribulations, but it’s evident how much tension and flavor was squeezed from so little fruit. Enjoy it while it lasts, because 2024 was a (wet) wash as well, and 2025 was “Destroyed by the animals,” as he so kindly put it. “The deer, they came, they had a party. And I just gave up.” 2026 may bring better results, or we may start a Gofundme for a border fence.

What the passing years also brought was yet another connection for Bernat; he stumbled across the owner of the very oldest Xarel-Lo vineyard in the region, planted in the 40s. We walked the vineyard with him, which was tucked into a tight corner of the winding roads, in a spot our driver may have silently cursed Bernat for. As the trees pulled back to reveal the vineyard, I thought of the old “California Sprawl” vines you’d see on back roads in Napa, but this was even more intense. Somewhat haphazardly planted, unevenly spaced rows of dotted, wrangled old vines in marine sand stuck out like stalagmites in an alien landscape. You’d find shells peppered throughout; “We plough twice a year, and the sea floor comes right up,” Bernat claimed. He’s basically doing this all alone, so “we” seems generous.

Emerging from this vineyard is a wine dubbed “Stella Occidentis”, or “Star of the West”. He was able to squeeze one 600L new Stockinger barrel and one barrique (and a Demi-john for topping) out of this vineyard during the drought vintage of 2023, and largely the same in 2024, he claims. Our first introduction to the wine came our first night at dinner at Alkimia, where Bernat casually blinded us on his wine alongside one of his inspirations for the wine: Tino Kuban's Les Jardins Vivant’s “Les Gouttes”. With the impact of both the drought vintage and the new Stockinger’s impact, the wine is absolutely wild. The word “bronze” kept echoing in my brain, like bronze flecks around a core of compact and intense stone & orchard fruits. A second bottle followed in the vineyard, we began to understand its roots (pardon the pun). The 2024, as he popped for us, was not yet ready in his estimation; the vintage was wet, and the wine “Confused me,” he admitted, “I thought, what the **** is this, Chablis?” 2025 will be a perfect middle ground between the two vintages, as he claimed it was a “perfect year,” growing-wise. He’s also impressed - as were we - with the impact a new, albeit larger, barrel can impress upon the wine from this vineyard, as the concentration matches the level of barrel impact. It’s much less noticeable in terms of any wood flavor than, say, a Burgundy barrel less than half its size, and it was unanimous that the 2023 was gorgeous. Sorry, again, it’s a tiny production!!

What I took away most from the visit was Bernat’s openness to adjusting, to morphing, to changing. He seems equally motivated and endlessly optimistic. The next opportunity could trip him walking through a door, such is his spirit.

The other takeaway was the mindset of a man whose wine-drinking history and depth of knowledge exceeds most anyone. Somewhat challenging what has become a widely-used adage in the wine world, Bernat mused: “Wine is made in the vineyard, right? Pffffft. Sure, but it’s the soils, the barrels, the people all making that impact.” He would harp on the importance of the soils in every single wine we would taste - a number which would surprise any but those who have spent a night with Bernat - and had an otherworldly knowledge of the ages of the soils, too. He could point to one aspect or another as being the key to relating wines from completely different regions, just by these factors. It was amazing to behold.

So this is a name to put in your catalogue as someone to always follow, and track if any bottles pop up - those with his name on them, or those which he recommends. Many of those are to follow here, so stay tuned.