Mas del Serral 2007

2004 arbeitete Pepe Raventos, der Sprösling der Familie Raventos i Blanc, bei Didier Daguenau und es erwachte in ihm der Wunsch einen biodynamischen Wein herzustellen, der das Terroir und den Boden transportiert und reflektiert. Nach seiner Rückkehr aus den USA, er verbrachte einige Jahre mit seiner Familie in New York, begann er mit seinem persönlichen Projekt und in der Garage seines Wohnhauses. Es entstanden einige Weine und ein Schaumwein, die biodynamisch und schwefelfrei hergestellt wurden. Die Trauben für den Cava oder Schaumwein stammen von einer Parzelle namens Mas del Serral - daher der Name des Schaumweines - mit alten Xarel.lo Reben und etwas Bastardo Negro - ein Synonym für Graciano - dessen Boden sehr reich an Meeresfossilen ist. Der Wein der entsteht ist sehr mineralisch mit einer tollen Säure ausgestattet. Die Trauben werden per Hand geerntet und Traube für Traube selektioniert. Für seine Weine verwendet Pepe Raventos nur das beste Lesegut.

Mas del Serral 2007 ist der erste Jahrgang dieses spanischen Cava. Der Wein reift 9 Monate im Tank auf der Feinhefe und vergärt anschließend 100 Monate in der Flasche, der sogenannten Flaschengärung. Der Schaumwein ist ein Brut Nature und wird per Hand degogiert. Luis Gutierrez bewertet diesen spanischen Cava mit 95+ Parker Punkten und schreibt über den Wein:" Named after the oldest plot of Xarello vines in the Raventós i Blanc estate in Penedès, the 2007 Mas del Serral is the first, very personal sparkling wine produced by Raventós. It comes from a vineyard that is farmed organically and worked by horse. The soils are rich in limestone of maritime origin and were planted between 1950 and 1954 with Xarello and some plants of Bastard Negre (apparently the same grape as Graciano, which I did not know until they told me about it in my previous review of the region). 2007 was a dry and not-so-cold vintage, but surprisingly enough, it has produced lively wines with vibrant acidity, more in the style of 2001 and 2004. The grapes were pressed at lot temperature, and the juice fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts. The wine was kept with lees for no less than six months and put to re-ferment with Champagne yeasts in bottle, where the wine was kept for 100 months (that's more than eight years). This was the dream of Pepe Raventós since he worked with Didier Dagueneau in 2004: to make a wine that is about the soil—in this case, marine limestone from a slope rather than silex—and not about the grapes. The wine is aging at a very slow pace, and the year, one of the best in recent times along with 2010 and 2013, resulted in livelier wines, like this one; it has superb freshness and acidity perfectly integrated and in harmony with the bubbles. It has the tasty salinity and the intense finish—still incredibly lively at age ten. The juice has such depth and intensity that the lees are hardly marking the wine, with less oxidative aromas and a notable absence of smoky and developed aromas. It's livelier and, in many aspects, younger than the 2011 of the Manuel Raventós Negra I tasted next to it. Without a doubt, it's a world-class sparkling wine. It was disgorged in July 2017. 2,735 bottles produced. It's a brut nature, without any added sugar. There will be only 600 magnums of the 2009, and the following vintage will be 2010."