W
ith Soca Rel, a Mallorcan expression meaning “of pure stock,” Pep Rodriguez makes wines like others make rock'n'roll – in his garage. Here, there is no architect-designed winery or fancy tastings, but rather, a hangar whose double doors open onto the countryside and vineyards. Native, untreated grape varieties grow surrounded by grasses, flowers, shrubs and fruit trees. Behind Binisallem you can see the twin mountains of Alaro. “These mountains,” explains Pep, “are the remains of a sierra, not as high as the Tramuntana, which has eroded over time. This gives us land where the vines can take root up to 5 metres deep.”
In this bucolic, seemingly untamed landscape, everything is thought through and has a purpose. The trees create shade, which lowers the temperature: in summer, at the hottest hour, there's a 12°degree difference between vines in the sun and those in the shade. The hedges that line the fields form a tunnel through which the air cools. They also serve as a larder for wildlife. Pep has also created watering holes, allowing the animals to quench their thirst without touching the grapes. As the weather changes every year, so does the way the soil is cultivated. “This year,” explains Pep, “it rained a lot, so I'm going to lengthen the plant cover time to allow the excess water to be absorbed by the plants growing in the field so that the grapes don't get waterlogged.”
Soca Rel is the secret garden of Pep Rodriguez, a rock'n'roll-loving farmer-winemaker with a passion for local varieties. At the outset, nothing predestined him to become a winemaker other than a love of the land. “I was born in Capdepella in 1971, a village near Palmanova and Peguera, where tourism was highly developed.” At 17, Pep didn't want to become a mechanic like his father, nor did he want to work in tourism. With his long hair and his Black Sabbath t-shirt, the winemaker confides, “I never communicated well with society. Tourism wasn't for me. The other option was construction, but I felt that a lot was already being built and I didn't want to contribute to that.” The countryside calmed him down. So Pep worked in the fields of a Mallorcan property. “We grew cereals, olives and fruit, and had donkeys, sheep and pigs.
