EMILIE MUTOMBO WINES

EMILIE MUTOMBO

Catalunya, Spain

Emilie Mutombo is a rising star in the world of natural winemaking, based in Bonastre, a village in Spain’s Penedès region. Originally from Brussels, she began her wine journey inspired by the natural wine movement, leaving behind a career in events. Her winemaking style is deeply influenced by her time with the renowned Partida Creus winery, where she gained hands-on experience and crafted her first wine, E.T., in collaboration with fellow winemaker Tom Colman.

Mutombo’s focus is on organic, low-intervention wines, often using local Catalan grape varieties like Parellada, Sumoll, and Xarel-lo. She employs traditional techniques like maceration and semi-carbonic maceration, producing small batches of around 3,000-8,000 liters per vintage. Her wines are known for their freshness, balance, and vibrancy, and she often works with minimal additions, focusing on expressing the purity of the fruit and the terroir.

Some of her notable wines include Lia, Xarelina, and Omnia, showcasing her unique touch and the influence of both her Belgian-Congolese heritage and her Catalan surroundings

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QUICK FACTS

ESTABLISHMENT

2020

PRODUCTION SIZE

Around 8,000 bottles

AREA

Approx 1 hectare

GRAPES

Parellada, Sumoll, Xarel-lo

SOILS

Clay and limestone

WINEMAKING STYLE

Organic practices, low-intervention winemaking with minimal additions (or none at all). Use of traditional maceration methods, including semi-carbonic maceration. Aging wines in both stainless steel and wood.

FUN FACTS

A fun fact about Emilie Mutombo is that she initially had no background in winemaking or agriculture. Her journey into wine began after she was inspired by the natural wine bars in Brussels. Before becoming a winemaker, she worked in the events industry in Brussels. Her transition into winemaking was sparked when she fell in love with the wines and character of Massimo Marchiori from Partida Creus at a wine fair, and within weeks, she had packed her bags for Catalonia to pursue her new passion.

BACKGROUND OF NATURAL WINE IN SPAIN

Spain's natural wine scene is a rich tapestry woven from a deep-rooted winemaking history and a contemporary embrace of sustainable, minimal-intervention practices. With a viticultural legacy dating back to Roman times, Spain has recently witnessed a resurgence of interest in organic and biodynamic viticulture, shaping a dynamic natural wine movement. Regions such as Catalonia's Penedès, the Sierra de Gredos, and the ancient vineyards of Bierzo are at the forefront, where skilled winemakers are redefining Spanish wine with a focus on authenticity and terroir expression. Traditional grape varieties like Tempranillo, Garnacha, and Albariño are gaining renewed attention, embodying Spain's commitment to preserving its winemaking heritage while embracing the innovations of the natural wine movement.

Organic, Biodynamic and Natural wine. What’s the difference?

To understand this concept and its various ramifications, it is necessary to keep something clear in mind: before the 20th century and the spreading of affordable synthetic fertilisers, all farming was organic. When the shift to the use of synthetics and pesticides happened, it became necessary to diversify traditional organic farming from the new modern farming. 


ORGANIC WINE

Simply put, organic farming forbids the use of synthetic fertilisers, synthetic pesticides, herbicides, or genetically modified organisms. The basic requirements are generally specific and engage the farmers not to use any chemical fertilisers and other synthetic products in the vineyard. It does not prevent the vintner from using the conventional winemaking process after harvesting. 


BIODYNAMIC WINE

Let’s take organic farming one step further: Biodynamic. The creator of this agricultural system is the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner, who developed the principles of biodynamics in a series of lectures given in 1924 in Germany. Here lies the foundation of true organic wines, with a strict limit in the use of additives, stringent requirements and at the end obtaining a biodynamic certification.


NATURAL WINE

The previous definitions are usually, and rightfully, associated with it, because most natural wine is also organic and/or biodynamic. But not vice versa!

Natural wine is wine in its purest form, simply described as nothing added, nothing taken away, just grapes fermented. No manipulation whatsoever, minimal intervention both in the vineyards and in the winery. Healthy grapes, natural yeast and natural fermentation, with no filtration nor fining. Sounds easy, right? However, making natural wine is unforgiving and it requires a bigger amount of work than conventional wine. To this day, natural wine has no certification yet.