Cop de Ma Blanca 2014

A vibrant Garnacha Blanca from Catalonia, from a producer whose name translates as 'lend a hand', with a label that refers to the Castells of Catalonia, the human pyramids that form an eye-popping attraction in so many public festivities in the region. The Castells, great symbols of co-operation, were declared by UNESCO in 2010 to be one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Crikey! But speaking of orals and intangibles, the region makes a remarkable amount of utterly wonderful wines, and we'd be delighted to let anybody give us a hand to drink this refreshing, creamy, green apple packed, delicious white wine!

Cop de Ma comes from Vitis Catalonia, an aggregation of wine-growers pooling their oenological resources into a range of fantastic value wines from across the whole area. Vitis Catalonia, in turn, is part of the Cisa Group, an international organisation committed to ethical trading which encourages its members to comply with Business Social Compliance Initiative standards, as well as to take environmental and organic issues into account. The name Cop de Ma translates as ‘lend a hand’ – and the labels make reference to the Castells of so many Catalan celebrations, human pyramids that symbolise the region's spirit of co-operation.

Catalunya, in the northeast of Spain, epitomises much that we find exciting about Spain. Wine, art, food and general good living ooze from every pore of the place. Salvador Dali hailed from Figueres; the capital, Barcelona, is a massive international cultural nexus; and there is wine everywhere! Approximately 200 bodegas produce a total of 38 million litres of wine annually, much of which is vibrant and young from Tarragona, but most famously the sparkling Cava that hails from the Penedès region.

The grapes are picked from vines ranging from five to 20 years old, grown on calcerous clay soil. After destemming and crushing, there is a 6-hour cold maceration followed by controlled fermentation in stainless steel, at 14C for 15-20 days.