Brutal Wines | What is a Brutal Wine?

Brutal!!! began with a word that means one thing in Catalan and something very different in French. According to Joan Ramon Escoda, it was 2009 when he and Laureano Serres of Mendall, two Catalan natural winemakers, went to taste with Antony Tortul of La Sorga at his cellar in the Languedoc, with Rémi Poujol also there by some accounts.

The tasting ran all day and deep into the night, and the Catalans kept calling the wines "brutal". To them, that was the highest praise. To a French winemaker, it sounded like an insult. At around three or four in the morning, Antony asked whether they actually liked his wine at all. The confusion turned into laughter, and the laughter turned into a label.

Like many good wine stories, it has more than one version. Vi Natural places the night at a late tasting near Béziers in 2007 or 2008, where Joan Ramon answered a worried winegrower with "Si bien sûr, ils sont brutaux !" - of course, they're brutal! Alice Feiring dates it to 2010, with Danish importers Sune Rosforth and Henrik Sehested in the room.

The founders of Brutal

The four original Brutal winemakers were Joan Ramon Escoda, Laureano Serres, Antony Tortul and Rémi Poujol, each making a cuvée called Brutal!!!. Antony has also spoken of "the original five friends", counting Axel Prüfer of Le Temps des Cerises. As Antony put it: "But he was there at the beginning!" Axel later stopped making Brutal wines, as he felt the label had become too commercialised.

The Brutal label

The label was designed by Antony on his computer in the middle of the night: black, red and yellow, with the Grim Reaper cutting down the SO2. It reads "Brutal Wine Corporation", but there has never been a real company behind it, and the name was never trademarked.

What is a Brutal wine?

A natural wine with no added sulphur, traditionally from a single barrel, meant to be a producer's top wine. It is made under the shared Brutal!!! label started by a group of Catalan and French natural winemakers.

Who founded Brutal?

Joan Ramon Escoda (Escoda-Sanahuja), Laureano Serres (Mendall), Antony Tortul (La Sorga) and Rémi Poujol. Axel Prüfer of Le Temps des Cerises is sometimes counted as a fifth.

When and where did Brutal start?

Joan Ramon puts it in 2009, at Antony Tortul's cellar in the Languedoc. Other accounts say 2007 or 2008 near Béziers, or 2010.

Why is it called Brutal?

The Catalan winemakers used "brutal" to mean amazing, while to French ears it sounded like an insult. The mix-up became the name.

Do Brutal wines contain sulphur?

No. No added sulphur is a core rule of Brutal.

Are Brutal wines faulty?

No. The original idea was for a Brutal to be a producer's top wine, not a showcase for faults. Over time some producers have used the label for a more unusual or experimental wine.

Can any winemaker make a Brutal?

No. The label is meant to be passed down, and only those it has been passed to should use the Brutal name and logo. The gold label is reserved for the founding members, and now 2Naturkinder.

What is the Brutal Wine Corporation?

The name printed on the Brutal label. It has never been a real company.

What is Bar Brutal?

A natural wine bar in Barcelona, in the old Can Cisa wine shop, run since the end of 2013 by Max and Stefano Colombo, Joan Valencia and Joan Ramon Escoda.