i. Biography
Ricard Rofes has been winemaker at Cellers de Scala Dei in Escaladei, Spain, since 2007, and the work there reads as a direct conversation with place. Vineyard, cellar, and hand are treated as one chain of decisions: each part informs the next, and the wines are made by adjusting to what the land already gives. That approach has marked a career built through study, then long practice, with technique kept in service of origin rather than pushed ahead of it.
The Work Today
Training at Jaume Ciurana School of Oenology, Falset and Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona gave Ricard Rofes the technical base for a career that has stayed close to the material facts of wine. A decade as winemaker at Celler El Masroig cooperative in Montsant (1997–2007) followed, and that period established his working command of a region in full expression. It also sharpened his sense of identity in wine: not as branding, but as the disciplined reading of terroir and site. Since 2007, Ricard has been winemaker of Cellers de Scala Dei, where the setting frames the work as much as the cellar does. Since 2008, he has also been winemaker of RAR, and since 2014, winemaker of Abadía de Poblet. Across those estates, the method stays consistent: observe first, intervene with restraint, and let vineyard, vintage, and variety set the terms. The emphasis is on translation, not display. That ethic is stated plainly in Ricard’s own words: “When I came to Scala Dei, “click!”, I realised the protagonist is not the person, but the place.” It is a practical rule for how the wines are made and a useful reminder of where authorship sits in this kind of work. His second line says the same thing from another angle: “The wines of Ricard Rofes don’t exist.
Signature
Ricard's signature wines include Massipa, Cartoixa 1974, RAR, and Prior Crianza. They point to the scope of his practice: wines that carry site, memory, and continuity without forcing a single style across them. The names sit inside a broader logic of origin, where the point is not to override character but to work until it is legible.
In Their Words “When I came to Scala Dei, “click!”, I realised the protagonist is not the person, but the place.” “The wines of Ricard Rofes don’t exist. It’s the wine made by the land and the grapes.”
Acclaim
It’s the wine made by the land and the grapes.”
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Ricard
What is Ricard Rofes's current role?
As of 2026, Ricard Rofes is winemaker.
Where did Ricard Rofes train or study?
Ricard Rofes trained at Jaume Ciurana School of Oenology, Falset and Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona.
