Our way of seeing the land.
Why Coster d’En Sala? In honour of our ancestors and, in particular, of En Joan Sala, the first to arrive in La Marina Alta and to admire its beauty.
But Coster d’En Sala is not simply a place to admire. It is a landscape to walk through, explore and enjoy. Between Xàbia and El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, we are restoring old agricultural terraces to their former use as vineyards. A distinctive vineyard where the memory of the place, respect for nature and our own way of bringing tradition and innovation together all coexist.
We invite you to walk among the vines and finish your visit with a tasting of our wines: Brisal de XabeaE Blanco, Terra XabeaE Blanco and Terra XabeaE Tinto. A wine tourism experience through which to discover our story and our way of life.
Would you like to join us?
A living landscape, with a past and a future
Coster d’En Sala is much more than a vineyard. It is our life's project and a way of honouring our responsibility to the land we have inherited. We want to restore its agricultural landscape, care for the nature around it and help ensure that it remains a place full of life for generations to come. And we want to enjoy the journey: the daily work and everything this place has to offer.
So, alongside tending our vines, we care for olive, carob and almond trees, restore terraces and dry-stone walls, plant native trees and shrubs along the edges of cultivated land and preserve the Mediterranean woodland. Every one of these actions has a purpose: to protect the soil, sustain the diversity of the landscape and provide food and shelter for the birds, mammals, insects, amphibians and reptiles that live here.
We see the vineyard as part of this wider whole, not as something separate from nature. We seek a respectful balance between farming, vegetation and wildlife, aware that the decisions we make today will help shape tomorrow's landscape.
And it is from this way of living and working with the land that our wines are born.
A distinctive vineyard
Our vineyard is distinctive for many reasons…
Because its design follows the agricultural terraces and dry-stone walls that have stood here since time immemorial. According to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage safeguarding body, these structures play an essential role in preventing landslides, flooding and avalanches.
Because we use a range of vine-training systems previously unfamiliar in La Marina Alta: alongside traditional dry-farmed bush vines, we have vertical-axis training, three forms of sprawl (Californian Y, Australian I and semi-sprawl T), high bush vines with either candelabra-shaped or lyre-shaped arms, and Guyot-Poussard cane-and-spur pruning. With these innovative systems, the vines grow freely yet remain orderly, protecting the grape bunches from excessive sun and moisture.
And because we practise sustainable, considerate viticulture, preserving soil structure with natural ground cover, returning organic matter from pruning to the soil and managing vine diseases and pests using non-aggressive methods… for all these reasons, and countless others…
Everything serves one purpose: to produce grape bunches that receive light and air, but not direct sun, from which we can make wine—the very best wine we are capable of making—for you to enjoy…
A privileged setting
In La Marina Alta, between Xàbia and El Poble Nou de Benitatxell, our vineyard forms part of a Mediterranean landscape where the proximity of the sea, the variety of soils and the terrain create distinctive conditions for growing vines.
The influence of the Mediterranean is felt in its breezes and winds, particularly the llebeig. The Montgó shelters us from the colder northerly winds, while the Puig de la Llorença, Tossal Gros and Rebaldí help shape the landscape surrounding our vines.
At Coster d’En Sala, the vineyard coexists with Mediterranean woodland and a rich variety of vegetation: pines, holm oaks, kermes oaks, strawberry trees, dwarf fan palms and other native species. Olive, carob and almond trees, fruit trees and aromatic plants complete an agricultural landscape that we work to preserve and enrich.
This setting is not merely the backdrop to our work. It is part of it. The soil, climate, vegetation and our approach to cultivation all help give character to the wines of Coster d’En Sala: Brisal de XabeaE, Terra XabeaE Blanco and Terra XabeaE Tinto.
A distinctive vineyard
Nuestro viñedo es singular por muchas razones… Porque nos adaptamos, en su diseño, a los bancales y muros de piedra en seco que allí se ubican desde tiempo inmemorial; porque utilizamos diversos sistemas de conducción de la viña desconocidos, hasta ahora, en La Marina Alta: el eje vertical, tres versiones de sprawl (californiano en Y, australiano en I y semisprawl T) y el vaso alto con brazos en forma de candelabro, de manera que las plantas crecen libres, y a la vez, con la vegetación ordenada; y porque realizamos una viticultura sostenible y respetuosa, conservando la estructura de los suelos con cubiertas vegetales naturales, reincorporando a los suelos la materia orgánica procedente de la poda, o tratando las enfermedades y las plagas de la viña con métodos no agresivos… por todo eso y por infinidad de cosas más…
Todo, con un único propósito: obtener racimos iluminados, aireados, pero no soleados, con los que elaborar vino, el mejor que seamos capaces de hacer, para que vosotros podáis disfrutarlos…