---
title: "La Mare winemaker urges Islanders to rediscover a transformed vineyard"
url: https://www.nsfw.info/la-mare-winemaker-urges-islanders-rediscover-transformed-vineyard/
published: 2026-10-21T12:00:59+00:00
modified: 2026-10-21T12:00:59+00:00
author: "Chief Editor"
categories: ["Business"]
image: https://www.nsfw.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/la-mare-winemaker-urges-islanders-rediscover-transformed-vin-1024x572.webp
summary: "La Mare's Jordi Sanvicens Moreno is mid-harvest and expecting 20,000 bottles, but says many Islanders don't realise how much the wines have improved."
publisher: NSFW (https://www.nsfw.info)
---

# La Mare winemaker urges Islanders to rediscover a transformed vineyard

**In brief:** La Mare Wine Estate’s production manager Jordi Sanvicens Moreno is mid-harvest at the St Mary vineyard, expecting around 20,000 bottles from this year’s crop. The Catalan-born winemaker, who spent nine years in Bali before moving to Jersey, says the estate’s wines are improving every year and winning national awards, yet many Islanders have not visited for a decade or more.

## From Catalonia to Catalonia-by-the-Sea

If you have ever wondered who is responsible for the bottles of Domaine de la Mare or Bailliage de le Mare sitting quietly on the shelf at La Mare Wine Estate, the answer is Jordi Sanvicens Moreno, a former chemistry student from Catalonia who, by his own admission, fell into winemaking almost by accident. Speaking to the Jersey Evening Post while harvesting this year’s grapes, Jordi explained that after university he quickly concluded that a laboratory was no place for a man who wanted to experience all four seasons.

His route to Jersey was, to put it mildly, scenic. After harvests across Spain, including stints with Rioja and Cava producers, he worked in Canada, Australia, France and Germany before spending nine years growing grapes on volcanic soils in Bali, Indonesia. It was the Covid pandemic that prompted him and his wife to reconsider their future and look back towards Europe. Jersey, he told the JEP, appealed because they both spoke English, the weather looked promising and the idea of a small community was attractive. That, he cheerfully admits, was about the full extent of their research before they packed their bags.

He has now been at La Mare for four years, and in that time he says the wines have changed considerably. “I speak with many people who say that they haven’t been here for ten years or more,” he said. “But the wines are improving every year and winning national awards.” His message to Islanders is straightforward: the wine you remember from a decade ago is not the wine in the bottle today.

## Terroir, Wasps and the Arithmetic of a Good Vintage

The estate’s 2.2 hectares are planted with Orion, Seyval Blanc, Regent and Rondo varieties, along with Sauvignac, a newer arrival. This year’s harvest, carried out earlier than usual because of the hot, dry summer, is expected to yield around 15,000 litres, or 20,000 bottles of wine.

The season has not been without its complications. Dry weather suppresses the mildews that plague wetter years, but it brought a different pest: wasps. “If the wasps start cracking the grapes, that can cause problems,” Jordi noted. Despite that, the vines grew without stress and remained free of infection, which he considers the essential foundation of quality. “Any distress in the vines would be reflected in the grapes,” he said.

Terroir sits at the heart of Jordi’s philosophy. Jersey’s latitude, he points out, is the same as that of Champagne and Alsace, two regions with considerable reputations for sparkling wine. That observation has led directly to the estate’s newest product, Le Mourier, a sparkling wine added to the range this year. “We are seeing a lot of sparkling wine made in the UK, as the climate is ideal for it,” he said, expressing confidence in the opportunities the new label presents.

On the question of what makes a good wine, Jordi is refreshingly precise. He puts 60 per cent down to the quality of the grapes, 30 per cent to following the correct process at the right time, and a mere 10 per cent to what he calls “the eccentricity of the winemaker.” He is equally clear that he does not want his own personality to dominate the bottle. “I don’t think people would taste the wine and know that it had been made by Jordi,” he said. “For me, it’s all about showing off the grapes.”

The winemaking process itself varies by style. For red wine, grapes are crushed and left to ferment for two or three days before pressing and ageing, some in barrels and some in stainless steel. Every year the team tests as they go, adapting oxygen levels accordingly. Bottling, he explains, requires a degree of faith as well as science: the wine on the day it is bottled is not the wine that will eventually reach the glass, and red wine in particular needs at least six months to “calm down and become tame.”

## Looking Ahead to an El Niño Summer

With the current harvest nearly complete, Jordi is already casting an eye towards 2027. He told the JEP that this year’s weather has been influenced by El Niño and that predictions suggest its impact could be even greater next year. “Another hot, dry summer could be challenging not just for us but for the Island as a whole,” he said, adding that the estate will need to think carefully about how it responds.

For now, though, the focus is on pressing this year’s grapes before the rain arrives. And his planned reward once the work is done? A glass of Domaine de la Mare, made from last year’s harvest.

## The NSFW Perspective

There is something quietly encouraging about a small island producing wines that compete at national level, and Jordi’s story is a good one: a chemist who found his specialism, circled the globe, and ended up making sparkling wine at the same latitude as Champagne. Whether Jersey’s wine racks will ever rival those of France or Italy is perhaps a question for another decade, but the estate appears to be moving in the right direction.

The more pressing puzzle, if you will forgive the pun, is why so many Islanders have not visited La Mare for ten years or more. In a small community that rightly prides itself on supporting local producers, that seems like an oversight worth correcting. If the grapes are as good as Jordi believes, the only sensible response is to go and find out for yourself.

*Source: [Jersey Evening Post](https://jerseyeveningpost.com/business/2026/10/21/all-winemakers-agree-that-the-grapes-show-you-the-way)*