Miguel Torres Maczassek of Miguel Torres, the dominant Catalan wine producer, is proving a fine source of arresting images (see these recent scenes from Chile). We're publishing this one instead of our usual Throwback Thursday delve into the archives. This was the scene last Sunday in vineyards outside Vilafranca del Penedès, an example of the ancient Catalan sport of Castells with a history of more than 200 years.
Every town apparently has a Castells team that includes particularly young, fit people whose job is to climb to the top. Castells may be celebrated the whole year round but especially during town festivals at harvest time.
Torres writes, 'Vilafranca (my home town) is the best team today! My neighbour Toni Bach is the head of the Vilafranca team and a good friend. The record is a castle of 10 floors (one on the top of each other).
'Here is a crazy video of the last Catalan competition... Vilafranca (with green shirts) won again.'
