Gramona La Cuvee 2015
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Robert
Parker
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Pale yellow, steel edges (white gold). Medium intensity aromas. Elegant floral notes wrapped in stone fruit - peach, apricot,golden apple, lemon peel, closed by a shy note of raw almond.Round entrance, medium enveloping body, crispy carbonic texture. In the retro-nasal route citrus memories return, the apple, the almond. Very refreshing and long finish.
Perfect as an appetizer that can be extended to the rest of the meal. Gastronomic and versatile.
Blend: 50% Xarel.lo and 50% Macabeo.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2015 was a very dry year, so the grapes for the 2015 La Cuvee were harvested quite early to avoid overripeness. It's a blend of 55% Xarello, 30% Macabeo and 10% Parellada, aged with the lees in bottle for 39 months and sold with six grams of residual sugar. This is a riper vintage, and the wine is evolving faster—even the color is a bit deeper than the 2014 Imperial. They want integrated bubbles, more of a creamy texture than explosive bubbles. The Xarello grapes suffered more, and the Parellada grapes come from a higher-altitude vineyards that keep more freshness. It has nutty aromas, hints of fennel and even licorice, and it's balanced and poised for such a vintage and also quite dry for a brut. They use the same expedition liqueur as the Imperial, old wine kept in a solera. It's lively and very approachable, and they think of this as a sparkling wine to sell by the glass. 80,000 bottles produced.
Other Vintages
2018-
Robert
Parker
Gramona is located in the Penedes region of Spain just 45 minutes from Barcelona along Spain's Mediterranean coast. The Climate in the Penedes is mild and warm, benefiting mostly from a Mediterranean influence. However, as the differences in elevation are quite dramatic (with some vines at over 700 meters), there are many microclimates in the zone. Soil in the region is not particularly rich in organic material (as is often the case in great winemaking regions) with high levels of sand and clay.
Gramona is, unfortunately, one of the last remaining family-owned cava houses of the Penedes. Here, elderly ladies from the village carefully wrap each bottle before being packed for transport and the entire operation is carried out by people who love the family and the estate. For the property, their reference points are in Champagne in France, and they regularly taste wines from this area next to their own (with often astonishing results). However, pricing remains very low compared to even the most mundane, negociant Champagnes on the market. These are some of the best values in our portfolio.
Representing the topmost expression of a Champagne house, a vintage Champagne is one made from the produce of a single, superior harvest year. Vintage Champagnes account for a mere 5% of total Champagne production and are produced about three times in a decade. Champagne is typically made as a blend of multiple years in order to preserve the house style; these will have non-vintage, or simply, NV on the label. The term, "vintage," as it applies to all wine, simply means a single harvest year.
A superior source of white grapes for the production of Spain’s prized sparkling wine, Cava, the Penedes region is part of Catalunya and sits just south of Barcelona. Medio Penedès is the most productive source of the Cava grapes, Macabeo, Xarel-lo, and Parellada. Penedes also grows Garnacha and Tempranillo (here called Ull de Llebre in Catalan), for high quality reds and rosès.