Winemaker Notes
This is a balanced, fragrant and fresh sparkling wine. In the nose, the aromas of ripe white fruit stand out, with floral notes. In the mouth it is fluid, with an elegant bubble and a slightly salty finish that makes it long and persistent.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The sparkling 2021 Ancestral Montonega was produced by the ancestral method of finishing fermentation in bottle. It was produced with the grapes of the Parellada Montonega strain and has only 9.9% alcohol, good freshness, mellow acidity and abundant but fine bubbles. It's clean and has notes of white fruit and flowers, Mediterranean herbs and a dry, mineral finish. 13,000 bottles produced. It's disgorged with at least four months in bottle, and the disgorgement date is printed on the back label. This is now sold without appellation of origin. Best after 2022.
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Wine & Spirits
Raventós describes montonega as a pink-berried clone of parellada. Made without any additions, this is a dry and savory sparkler with flavors of pink peach flesh and loquat skin. Bubbles brighten the notes of chestnut and green almond in the finish.
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.