El Molí Winery

Celler el Molí

Our History

Passion for viticulture

Sebastià Catllà & Josep Maria Claret recover a historical vineyard

It was 1990 when Sebastià Catllà, a renowned entrepreneur in the metal sector, undertook a unique wine project together with Josep Maria Claret. It was about recovering the vineyards of the Molí and Casanova de Monistrolet estates. After an intense research process, they opted for a completely organic wine production model, and became the first winery in the DO Pla de Bages to bet on it from the start.

Three decades after the start of that project, Celler el Molí has returned to its old image a large part of the landscape that, since the phylloxera, had disappeared in this area bordering Manresa. The vineyard and also the olive trees characterize the foot of the famous Collbaix hill, well known in Bages for its numerous trails and for the sensational views it offers over the Pla de Bages and towards the Montserrat massif.

Collbaix Celler el Molí has managed to make a place in the country’s best wines market, with very good ratings for a dozen of its creations, in addition to producing extra virgin olive oil of three varieties.

The beginning: hand-planted Cabernet Sauvignon

At just under twenty years of age, Josep Maria Claret dedicated himself to touring other wine-growing regions in order to learn about aspects of wine culture and its cultivation. This is how the Celler el Molí project began, which in its origins opted for an imported variety: Cabernet Sauvignon. The challenge was to plant 3,000 vines by hand in plot 21, right at the foot of the Collbaix.

Between 1993 and 2006, the Molí estate experienced progressive growth. To that first hectare of Cabernet Sauvignon, many more were added, as well as new varieties: Ull de Llebre and Merlot.

The work that consolidated the project

The year 2005 arrived and the construction of the cellar on the Molí estate began. Josep Maria Claret recalls that the works “overlapped with the first vat of 8,000 liters of Merlot that we filled and that we could not enter in the cellar because it was not finished”.

With the new winery built, the production of Collbaix Celler el Molí grew and consolidated: Picapoll Blanc, Macabeu, Cabernet Franc, Mandó and Garnatxa Negra were introduced, while the winery became part of the DO Pla of Bages.

The trends of each moment have made the winery evolve, in the same way that it will advance in accordance with new tastes and with the most innovative techniques in the sector.

From Arbequina to Corbella and Verdal

Parallel to the vines, between 2001 and 2002, Celler el Molí started planting olive trees: it incorporated 8,000 small trees spread over six hectares, which would bear their first fruits in 2008 and make Arbequina extra virgin olive oil.

From 2013, Collbaix Celler el Molí made a commitment to local varieties such as Corbella, native to the Cardener valley, and Verdal Manresa, native to the central Bages plain.

Ecological

commitment

Pioneers and defenders of organic agriculture

Absolute respect for flora and fauna that inhabit the estate has marked, from the beginning, the character of Collbaix Celler el Molí.

Precisely for this reason, and long before the words “ecological“, “sustainable” or “respectful” were erected as concepts of added value in wine jargon, the owners of Celler el Molí already worked under the parameters of organic agriculture.

In 2005, the Molí estate became part of the register of the Catalan Council for Ecological Agricultural Production (CCPAE) and thus became the first organic winery of the DO Pla de Bages.

When Collbaix Celler el Molí started producing oil, it also did so within the standards of the CCPAE, and also constituted the first experience of organic oil production in Bages.

Biosphere, the seal of tourism sustainability

Collbaix Celler el Molí, as a company affiliated to the Global Geopark
UNESCO of Central Catalonia and for its commitment to the
tourism sustainability, has obtained the Biosphere seal.

Biosphere is a tourism sustainability certification that recognizes the activity
business under principles of environmental, economic and social sustainability
that contribute to the respectful development of activities, both in
region and as in Catalonia as a whole.

In the framework of the Biosphere, we work so that the management of the company at the level
internal is optimal from a sustainable and efficient point of view, through the
incorporation of strict manuals of good practices.

Solidarity

and the cellar

We love people

As part of its corporate social responsibility, Collbaix Celler el Molí actively collaborates with the Urpina agro-social project, promoted by the AMPANS Foundation.

Urpina is a farm in Sant Salvador de Guardiola (Bages) that has recovered vineyards that had survived the weight of history and cultivated new ones, while including people with intellectual disabilities and in vulnerable situations for the production of wines under its own label.

Celler el Molí undertakes the vinification, bottling and labeling process without AMPANS disassociating itself from the process. This relationship between Collbaix and AMPANS makes it easier for people at risk of exclusion to have dignified employment, while producing a highly appreciated local product.

Collbaix Celler El Molí allocates part of its economic profits to charity projects.

Without borders or barriers

We are the first winery in the DO Pla de Bages to incorporate the Braille language into its labels. We’ve been doing it since day one. In this way, we facilitate the knowledge of our wines to people with visual impairments, as well as their tasting experience.

Our facilities are accessible for people with reduced mobility and we adapt all our experiences to the needs of each user. In this way, and through the culture of wine and oil, we want to contribute our grain of sand in terms of inclusion and social cohesion.