Winemaker Notes
A structured, fresh and complex wine with white floral notes on the nose. The wine is impeccably balanced with a marked minerality, soft and fresh fruit flavors, and some nutty notes. The small, nicely integrated bubbles and saline qualities are in perfect harmony with the slightly creamy texture.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Pepe Raventós told me that 2016 is the surprise vintage and one of his favorite, when the vines produced tiny grapes after two very warm vintages and a dry and warm growing season. The musts are very concentrated, not only with flavors or sugar but also acidity. The basic 2016 Blanc de Blancs, which replaced the old L'Hereu, comes from the lower-altitude vineyards that have more clay (but the base is limestone), and some 30% of the grapes were purchased from certified organic local growers in the Anoia banks, where there is limestone mother rock of marine origin. The wine matured for at least 18 months, and all the bottles have the disgorgement date on the label. The wine is kept sur lie for an average of two years.
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.