Winemaker Notes
This is certainly among the finest sparkling wines produced in Spain and could stand toe-to-toe with the great references of Champagne.
Blend:
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The toastier 2014 Manuel Raventós Negra comes from a warm and generous vintage, similar to 2019. The wine is a selection of 60% Sumoll and 40% Xarel.lo, and it had at least 70 months in bottle with lees after refermenting. This is a little more classical, more the old style, a little more oxidative with hints of caramel and honey, toasted cereals too.
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.