Celler Credos de Recaredo "Aloers" Catalonia, Spain 2019

FROM ROSENTHAL:

THE WINE: “Aloers” is an old Catalan term for independent farmers in the Middle Ages. This wine offers a mouthwatering and tension-filled take on pure Xarel·lo. Its site of origin, called Montargull, was planted to bush vines in 1970 at 230 meters of altitude in the commune of Avinyonet del Penedès, 15 kilometers outside Recaredo’s cellar in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia. “Aloers” is pressed whole-cluster and very slowly and gently, spending six months on its fine lees in steel, and it is kept in bottle for a year before its release to allow for Xarel·lo’s characteristic youthful austerity to diminish. Broad on the palate but well-focused, it tastes as if Maldon sea salt was sprinkled into the glass, and a persistent note of gunflint adds complexity to the apricot- and almond-like flavors.

THE PRODUCER: The Recaredo estate in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia is justly regarded as the greatest producer of sparkling wine in the Penedès. Their long-lees-aged, zero-dosage, single-vintage, hand-disgorged wines are ubiquitous on the greatest wine lists in Catalunya and in Spain in general, and we at RWM have greatly relished building their reputation here in the United States over the past dozen years of our partnership. Under the stewardship of the visionary Ton Mata, whose grandfather Josep founded the estate in 1924, Recaredo became the first biodynamic producer in the Penedès (certified in 2010), as well as the first producer in the region to bottle a single-vineyard sparkling wine (the peerless “Turó d’En Mota,” which spends over a decade on its lees), and their stunning winery is a testament to how technology can be employed to elevate rather than dominate terroir.