Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The new kid on the block, first produced as a limited cuvée in 2011, is this unusual blend of traditional grapes, with other rarer Mediterranean varieties, 30% Xarello, 20% Xarello Vermell (a clone of Xarello which has a pinkish skin), 20% Sumoll (a red grape), 20% Bastard Negre (apparently Graciano, which I've never heard before), also a red grape, and 10% Parellada; it is a wine with low alcohol and high acidity that provided sharpness. The Xarello and Bastard Negre are planted at the highest altitude in the property on stony soils and produce very low yields, and the Summoll and Parellada were co-planted some 50 years ago, sourced from a local producer from the west of the river banks of the Arnoia River. The wine matured in contact with the lees for some 42 months and no sugar was added to it, so it's a Brut Nature. It's a darker shade of yellow, like a blanc de noirs, and it felt very serious, with a slightly closed nose. It develops more oxidative and lees notes, with smoky aromas and a core of ripe yellow fruit, exuberant and with a nice mouthfeel, very dry and tasty. This is closer to something from Selosse than Larmandier. This is a great addition to the portfolio, a nice complement.
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.