Recaredo Turó d'en Mota 2011

This cuvée comes from a 0.97-hectare plot north-west of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, in the heart of the Catalan Penedès and the Corpinnat territory. Planted in 1940 and bush-trained on the northern slope of the Turó d’en Mota hill, it lies on deep, silty-clay, very chalky and well-drained soils. This distinctive Mediterranean terroir gives a precise, taut and mineral expression of Xarel·lo.

The grapes are harvested by hand to preserve their natural freshness. The first fermentation takes place in 300-litre oak barrels, followed by a second fermentation in bottle using the traditional method. A Brut Nature with no added sugar, the wine is aged for at least 150 months on the lees in bottle, under natural cork. Riddling is done by hand on pupitres and disgorgement is carried out manually, without freezing.

This wine reveals notes of bread dough, brioche, toast, dried fruit, candied citrus, dried flowers, wet chalk, Mediterranean herbs, bay leaf and sea salt. The palate is broad and silky, carried by a very fine, seamless mousse. Vibrant acidity and a saline mineral thread structure the wine, while the long, dry and delicately toasty finish elegantly extends its depth.

The history of wine in Spain is so old that no one really knows who brought the first vines to the region. When the Phoenicians arrived some 3,000 years ago and founded the present-day cities of Cádiz and Jerez, viticulture was well established and Spanish wines were widely traded throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa. You could say that Spain is a wine miracle. After years on the sidelines of the fine wine world, it is now a major player. Investment and ambition in vineyards and wineries are resulting in increasingly rich, complex (often very high in alcohol) and spicy reds that are ever more popular with international consumers. Proud to have more land under vine than any other country, Spain is only just beginning to capitalise on this resource in a consistent way. Spain is an anarchic tangle of regions and sub-regions, just as its landscape is an anarchic tangle of incredibly rugged scenery. A glance at a map reveals the climatic diversity between Spain's many wine regions, from the green, rain-soaked vineyards of Galicia on the northern Atlantic coast to the sun-baked vineyards of the Mediterranean south-east. Spain's saving grace, as far as viticulture is concerned, is the average altitude of its vineyards, over 600 metres. Many Spanish vineyards therefore manage to produce grapes with good colour and acidity simply because night-time temperatures are relatively low and the grapes do not ripen until the end of a sufficiently long growing season. But there is real treasure to be found for those willing to dig, and now that a class of connoisseurs has developed in Spain, all kinds of ambitious investors have done their bit to change the image of Spanish wine. Today, a new generation of winemakers has quietly begun crafting spectacular wines and experimenting with grape varieties that would have been unthinkable until very recently. Wine remains an important commodity and an integral part of Spanish culture.