Introducing La Forastera

The La Forastera (The Foreigner) project was born in 2018. Matthias van der Sluis, a Dutch architect decided to leave his native Holland, with a dream to nurse back to health 3.4 hectares of small, old vineyards owned by his family-in-law, situated in the hills of Font-Rubi, an hour away from Barcelona.

These vineyards are located in the Vinyes de les Serres Velles zone, which translates to vineyards of the old mountains. The grape varieties grown include Parellada, Macabeo, and Sumoll. In 2023, they expanded, planting 0.6 hectares of Monastrell and 0.4 hectares of Xarel.lo.

During the first few years, the focus was on improving the condition of the vineyards. In addition to working the vineyards, they also started making wine from grapes purchased from other growers. In 2021 and 2022, they bought grapes from the family of Amos Bañeres (Xarel.lo and Macabeo) and started making wine from their own plots of Parellada, Sumoll, and Macabeo.

The wines are produced using indigenous yeasts, are unfiltered, and contain no added sulphur or other oenological additives. The idea behind this approach is that the vineyards provide healthy grapes, and with minimal intervention, they create beautiful wines with skin maceration that can vary, anywhere from 6 hours, to 6 weeks, to 6 months or more. Fermentation and ageing of all wines take place in stainless steel tanks, and all wines are aged on the lees.

The label on their wine bottles features wolves, inspired by a piece of forest in Vinyes de les Serres Velles known as Bosc de Cal Llopet, or the forest of the little wolf.

Limited quantities of La Forastera’s wines are available now.