Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
The 2018 Brut Nature Manuel Raventós Negra is 70% Xarel·lo and 30% Macabeu from Conca del Riu Anoia, Penedès. After nine months on lees in cement, it spent a minimum of 70 months on lees in bottle. With tertiary aromas of pastry, yeast and apple, it shows layered nuances. Chalky in texture, ethereal yet persistent on the palate, it finishes long with freshness and grip. A fine, elegant sparkling wine.
-
James Suckling
This is showing aged and Champagne-like aromas of brioche, sourdough bread, cream, lemons, dried herbs and crushed seashells. Hints of honey and chalk as well. Smoothly rendered on the medium- to full-bodied palate, with a fine, sleek mousse and a lengthy, bone-dry finish. Discreet, with excellent intensity throughout. Xarel-lo and macabeu. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
-
Wine Spectator
A harmonious sparkler, this starts off sleek, with linear drive, but reveals subtle notes of baked pear, dried white cherry, toasted almond and crystallized honey that expand on the palate, carried by racy acidity and the finely detailed mousse. Savory hints of fleur de sel and lemon thyme echo on the finish. Xarel-lo and Macabeo. Disgorged April 2025. Drink now through 2033.
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.