Catalan Charcuterie Board & Artisan Cured Meats
Catalan cured fuet and air-dried sausages call for a red that won't clash with black pepper spices. Trepat's velvety tannins and peppery finish harmonise seamlessly.
- Trepat style
- Young Trepat Red or Lightly Oaked
- Temperature
- 14 - 15 °C
A board of ham, chorizo and salchichón is fat, salt and pepper. Fuet and the region's longaniza work the same way: cured meat wants a red that does not dry the mouth on top of the pepper. A rough, tannic red fights the cure and leaves the tongue raspy. The next bite no longer tastes of anything.
Trepat is the other path. Light body, high acidity, silky tannin from thin skins, red fruit and a thread of white pepper. Acidity clears the fat between bites. The pepper in the wine repeats the pepper in the meat without adding more. The fruit — cherry, strawberry — keeps the plate from being only salt. Alcohol usually stays between 11.5% and 13%, so a long table does not go dull.
The style is a young red, or a very light ageing if the vessel does not cover the fruit. A short rest in used wood or a large foudre, the kind the variety's recent history uses to keep fruit and pepper, belongs only while the wine stays fine. Serve it around 14°C, inside the 13–15°C window for a young red. Warmer, the alcohol sits on the ham.
Tip: tomato-rubbed bread and a thread of Arbequina oil. Tomato and oil are the bridge; the wine already brings the acidity. Do not decant a light ageing for more than a quarter of an hour.
