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Ingrid Teixidor
Celler Oliveda
Ingrid Teixidor
A descendant of wine-making ancestors, Ingrid was born and raised under a vine. She studied tourism and foreign languages, and for 17 years has been part of the team at the Oliveda winery, founded in 1948 by Josep Oliveda and Joana Rigau Ros, producers of quality wines and cavas.
Ingrid is now the person charged with running the business along with her husband, J. Alfons Freixa i Oliveda, and together they have turned the winery into a more dynamic and innovative company, a pioneer in the sector, through the creation of more modern, more expressive, trendier wines that have opened their doors to new markets and younger generations. Here, Ingrid shares some of the more notable elements of her work at the winery.
1. Ullones painting.
This painting of the Twin Sisters acquired in 2013 was love at first sight. A striking, daring work of art that conveys fun and a projection of the future, while fusing art and wine. For me, it represents an impasse, the creation of a new wine, a 100% Grenache rosé with a pale colour, fruity, sweet and acidic. And the beginning of a friendship with the two painters from Camós.
2. Wooden cava rack.
I really identify with cava. The first position I had in wine-making was CEO for the cava maker Freixa Rigau. The bottles need patience and time to ferment and mature in the racks, so they rest and integrate the yeasts into the base wine, and are then poured and put on the tables of diners, where they give all their expressiveness, joy and pride at being open.
3. Bottle of underwater cava.
This is a bottle of cava that was left to ferment at the bottom of the sea. A very romantic, innovative and ambitious project, since it was the first cava aged at the bottom of the sea with its sediment. All of the 89 bottles that were fermented under the sea were tasted at a party at the winery. You can’t buy one, only try one when we offer tastings at the winery.
4. Bottle of Batec Gran Reserva cava.
This is the first Gran Reserva we have produced at the winery, with a production of 2,000 bottles a year, a blend of xarel.lo and white pinot noir. And my first cava: the label symbolises a silver heart, with words and little drawings inside. And my name, Ingrid, also appears, since my husband and the designer secretly added it to give me a lovely surprise.
5. Barrel of traditional grenache.
Many years ago it was discovered that there were very few hectares of red grenache remaining in Catalonia. We have some of the few existing properties in Garriguella, through family inheritance, on a property that has always belonged to my family, the Teixidor family. Now it is resting in the barrel behind me and is part of our winery. Since 2010 we have been ageing them in the barrel to be able to offer the market a traditionally sweet grenache under the name Puig de les Guilles.
6. Spotted duck.
My son made this in pottery class. It brings me good luck and fuses the calmness and charm of a duck with the ferocity of a leopard, just like my daily life, where I experience all sorts of different things.
7. Tap of French origin.
We also have a tap museum at the winery, with a collection of over 5,000 taps from France, Italy and Spain. It’s a museum dedicated to wine culture, founded by Josep Oliveda, expanded by Anna Maria Oliveda (my mother-in-law) and continued by us. The French tap has the shape of the fleur de lis on the upper part, which tells you where it’s from. I love explaining the tap museum to tourists and visitors. It’s the place with most history in the winery, a place of tradition, anecdotes and experiences that help us to understand our history in the world of wine. www. grupoliveda.com
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