Winemaker Notes
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesPepe Raventos was among the first producers to leave the Cava DO, focusing on biodynamically farmed, deeply flavorful sparklers like this Brut Nature. The wine’s heady toastiness comes first, but prominent fruit flavors come up to meet it, along with savory notes of thyme. Nacho Monclus of Brooklyn’s Camperdown Elm compared it to the scent of freshly harvested almonds, a freshness driving through the wine’s savor. It’s a purely Spanish sparkling wine.
I was quite surprised by the freshness of the 2012 Manuel Raventós Negra, despite the fact that the year was quite warm and the classical Raventós style is perhaps a little riper and fuller than the austere wines produced by others. This is a selection that changes with the year, and in 2012, it's a majority of Xarello with just a pinch of Macabeo. The wine is compact and fresh with some citrus notes intermixed with the strong sensation of the lees—smoky, yeasty and doughy. This bottle was disgorged in May 2019 and has been kept in bottle with the lees for a long time.
A rich butterscotch color along with autolysis-based aromas of seashell, white mushroom, applesauce and brioche announce a smoothly layered palate. Salt notes are imparted to dried apricot and papaya flavors, while this mature vintage Xarello is controlled and tastes of salted nuts and flor on the finish.
Firm and focused, with a fine, lively bead and a toasty overtone of roasted nut accenting the flavors of baked pear, coffee and lemon pith, with a touch of pastry cream. Clean and minerally on the lingering finish.
Pepe Raventós is the 21st generation of the most exciting Spanish Sparkling producers, Raventós i Blanc.
With a documented history of viticulture back to 1497, officially creating the first sparkling wine in Spain in 1872 by Josep Raventós i Fatjó, the Raven- tós family are one of the best sparkling wine produ- cers in the country.
Pepe Raventós, of the current generation, is a dy- namic and forward-thinking man and honed his expertise with internships alongside the late, great Didier Dageneau in the Loire and Domaine Hubert Lamy in Burgundy, before returning to the family domaine to produce exceptional sparkling wines from their biodynamic, fossil-rich terroir.
In 2012, Raventos i Blanc withdrew from the Cava DO to initiate a new, terroir driven appellation, Conca del Riu Anoia, due to a desire to set a stan- dard in high quality wine production, where rules such as the use of only indigenous grapes, ecologi- cal viticulture (100% Biodynamic), estate-produced and estate-bottled fruit and minimum of 18 months of ageing requirements, apply.
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.
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.