NADA is a collaboration between Raph Baissas de Chastenet and Oscar Mancillas, two friends who, through a chance encounter, decided they had something important to say about Calce. It is a project dreamed up over several bottles at their local watering hole, Native in Perpignan—the same bar where they met. It is an endeavor born of the idea to collaborate on 1,000L of wine, which immediately turned into 10,000L of wine since they got along so well. It is the evolution of Raph and Oscar’s friendship—an unlikely connection between a Calce native and an itinerant winemaker from Ensenada, Mexico.

Their wines are incredibly generous and soulful, inspiring the same thirst they promise to quench. They are a delight hiding in plain sight.

Calce itself, in many ways, is the third dimension to their relationship. It’s a diorama of a place: a village so quiet you can hear the wind bouncing off creaky wooden windowsills. Yet it is also of natural winemaking lore. Within this sleepy still-life lies a vibrant culture of organic viticulture and native yeasts. You’d be hard-pressed to find a single drop of conventional wine in Le Presbytère, the restaurant dedicated entirely to local wines nestled in the center of the village. When you roamed the surrounding streets, you’d find door after door of garage wineries, painted in alternating playful and somber colors. Sandwiched somewhere between the likes of Jean-Philippe Padié and Severin Barioz, you’d find Raph and Oscar.

You would enter an arched blue door and an atmosphere of controlled anarchy: IBC tanks, stainless steel vats and large barrels, a black and white flag reading “NADA” draped from the ceiling, a couch smack dab in the middle of the winery, for resting after a hard day’s harvest. You’d find two young guys, one in a black shirt and one in cream stained with grapes, one clean-cut and one wild-eyed, the yin to the other’s yang. They’d be going back and forth, in perfect tandem, explaining how their styles are in sync; Oscar bringing his classic winemaking background to bear, yet eschewing extraction and de-stemming in favor of Raph’s whole cluster maceration; Raph describing his eternal pursuit of freshness and length, refined by Oscar’s fondness of foudres.

They’d both express their satisfaction with their luck of the draw: having found each other, having access to their own grapes (Grenache Noir, Grenache blanc, Carignan noir, Macabeu, Syrah) as well as a variety of neighbors’ grapes (Roussanne, Muscat d’Alexandrie, Mourvèdre), having a prime position at the crossroads of two distinct terroirs: ancient limestone with clay and river stones from the Corbières and younger, nervier schist from the Pyrénées. Raph would tell you he prefers the schist, since it results in a more elegant, “fine dining” wine, but it depends on what you’re trying to do. When you remarked a wine can have two personalities, Raph would respond, “maybe three or four, depending on the weekend.” Oscar would laugh in agreement. It’s an embarrassment of riches, really.

They’d hand you a glass and pour you a taste and you’d see what they mean. You’d take a sip and ask for another, and another, and another.

NADA

Country: France

Region: Côtes Catalanes

Sub-region or Appellation: Calce

Winemakers: Raphael Baissas de Chastenet + Oscar Mancillas

Viticulture: Biodynamic, Organic

Terroir: Schist, limestone

Size: 7 hectares

Website: www.vandal-wine.com
Instagram: @vandal.wine.nada

NADA :: Zuma

A field blend of Macabeu, Grenache Gris, and Grenache Blanc, and a blend of 2021 and 2022 vintages. The refusal of the 2021 vintage to ferment led to the idea, a whole year later, to blend it with the juice of 2022. Salt-crusted peaches are at the forefront of this quaffable yet pensive cuvée.

Vintage: 60% 2021, 40% 2022
Grapes: Macabeu, Grenache Gris, Grenache Blanc
Style: White Wine
ABV: 13 %
Region: Côtes Catalanes
Sub-Region or Appellation: Calce
Viticulture: Biodynamic
Age of Vines: 90+ yrs
Soils: Schist
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Both vintages direct-pressed and blended before bottling
Aging: 2021 aged for 11 months in barrels, 2022 went straight from tank to bottling
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None added

NADA :: Fille Sauvage

100% Muscat d’Alexandrie, a masterclass in oxidation and patience. Ten days of whole-cluster maceration with more pump-overs and pigéage than is typical for their other cuvées, to aid in oxidation and reduce reduction. Pressed and aged in barrel for 6 months.

Vintage: 2022
Grapes: Muscat d’Alexandrie
Style: Skin-Contact Wine
ABV: 14 %
Region: Côtes Catalanes
Sub-Region or Appellation: Calce
Viticulture: Biodynamic
Age of Vines: 30 yrs+
Soils: Clay
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: 10-day whole cluster maceration with pigéage and pump-overs, pressed into barrels.
Aging: 6 months in barrel without topping up
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None added

NADA :: Golden Imperial

A tale of star-crossed stories, a whimsical experiment to rewrite family history. For Oscar, this cuvée is named after his father’s cherished (yet ill-fated) notion to start a company rebranding mis-packaged toilet paper in Mexico, named—you guessed it, Golden Imperial. For Raph, this cuvée is an homage to his grandfather’s thwarted attempts to make sparkling rosé in the 80s. By their powers combined, this wine represents a turn-of-fate: expressly beautiful, lush and fruity, with lengthy acidity and endlessly enjoyability.

Vintage: 2022
Grapes: Syrah
Style: Sparkling Rosé
ABV: 12.5 %
Region: Côtes Catalanes
Sub-Region or Appellation: Calce
Viticulture: Biodynamic
Age of Vines: 30 yrs
Soils: Granite/Schist
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: A dry wine from direct-pressed Syrah is made and then bottled with unfermented juice from the same vintage, which slowly ferments in the bottle over the course of a year.
Aging: In bottle, undisgorged
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None added

NADA :: CR

A canvas of aromatic white grapes, with swaths of reds abstractly dashing across. A pale reddish salmon, almost Ramato-like. Dusty, peppery, but pleasantly plump. Full of mystique.

Vintage: 2022
Grapes: 90% Macabeu, 10% Syrah
Style: Rosé Wine
ABV: 12.5 %
Region: Côtes Catalanes
Sub-Region or Appellation: Calce
Viticulture: Biodynamic
Age of Vines: ~40 yrs
Soils: Limestone, schist
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: Macabeu and Syrah pressed direct, followed by débourbage and fermentation. A portion of the direct-pressed juice is kept separately, and a portion is infused with already-pressed skins of Syrah. The infusion is drained off the skins and reblended with the remaining direct-pressed juice.
Aging: Stainless steel
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: Minimal at bottling

NADA :: Futur

A difficult vintage and lower yields of Grenache from this historic parcel necessitated Raph and Oscar’s trademark ingenuity. Carignan and Mourvèdre from Radicante (Oscar’s personal winemaking project) fill out this blend that expresses a slightly lighter and defter side of Grenache, without forgoing its rusticity or intensity.

Vintage: 2022
Grapes: 60% Grenache Noir, 30% Carignan, 10% Mourvèdre
Style: Red Wine
ABV: 13 %
Region: Côtes Catalanes
Sub-Region or Appellation: Calce
Viticulture: Biodynamic
Age of Vines: 30 yrs+
Soils: Schist
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: The Grenache from the Futur parcel is harvested slightly early, around 12% ABV, and fermented separately. The Carignan and Mourvèdre are later blended.
Aging: Élevage in foudre
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: None added 

NADA :: Revolucion

Three unmistakable grapes of this area at their most playful. Ripe and exuberant fruit, coupled with a signature savory undercurrent.

Vintage: 2022
Grapes: Syrah, Grenache Noir, Carignan
Style: Red Wine
ABV: 13 %
Region: Côtes Catalanes
Sub-Region or Appellation: Calce
Viticulture: Biodynamic
Age of Vines: 15-20 yrs
Soils: Predominantly clay
Yeasts: Indigenous
Vinification: All three varieties are harvested the same day (contiguous parcels) and co-fermented in whole clusters in a stainless steel tank. After a five-day maceration, they are pressed into large barrels until bottling.
Aging: 4 months in 2000L barrel
Fining or Filtering: None
Sulfur: Minimal at bottling