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.

A Brutal wine is a natural wine made with no added sulphur, traditionally from one barrel (although this is now debatable with some producers), and it is meant to be labelled as a producer's TOP wine. That is contrary to the popular belief that a Brutal should have a fault as its highlight, or be crazy experimental.

This is the original vision of the label, although it has evolved over time. Some producers use it to highlight a slightly more unusual wine than their usual offering, and see it more as a space for experimentation than as their best wine. Axel Prüfer once described it as "a way to valorize experimentation". The natural wine public has also come to see Brutal that way.

As a rule, only those who have had the label passed down to them are allowed to use the Brutal name and logo, designed by Antony Tortul of La Sorga. Only the founding members are allowed to use the gold label, and now 2Naturkinder.

How to recognise a Brutal

Many producers keep the classic black, red and yellow front label and put their own details on the back. Others, like Christian Tschida, add BRUTAL to their own label designs.

The Brutal label was passed down from winemaker to winemaker, and today Brutals are made in Spain, France, Italy, Austria, Germany, Australia and beyond. Estimates range from around 40 to more than 50 producers, and Joan Ramon told us he no longer knows how many there are, and doesn't mind.

Antony Tortul is less relaxed about it. He was once brought an Italian "Brutal" that had been sulphured. In 2021 he brought out a new label, with BRUTAL in gold letters and "La compagnie du vrai vin brutal" (the company of real Brutal wine), reserved for the founding members, and now 2Naturkinder.

Bar Brutal in Barcelona

The name also lives on in Barcelona. Bar Brutal, in the old Can Cisa wine shop, has been run since the end of 2013 by Max and Stefano Colombo, Joan Valencia and Joan Ramon Escoda himself.

Brutal wines at MORE

Over the years we have stocked Brutals from La Sorga, Gut Oggau, Christian Tschida, Matassa, Les Vins Pirouettes, Partida Creus, Naranjuez, Vinyes Tortuga, 2Naturkinder, Momento Mori, Rémi Poujol, Bodegas Cueva, Les Foes, Valentina Passalacqua, Vega Aixalà, Le Bouc à Trois Pattes, Es d'aqui, Jordi Llorens and MicroBio Wines. Brutals are made in small amounts, so many of them are limited to one per order, and they go quickly.

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.