Recaredo Corpinnat Turó d'en Mota de Recaredo Brut Nature 2011 (Disg. Oct 24)

Biodynamic. Described by Tom Hewson as “one of the world’s most remarkable sparkling wines”, the Turó d’en Mota cuvée is sourced from a unique site within the Serral del Vell vineyard. It’s made from just under one hectare of goblet-trained Xarel·lo vines, planted in 1940 at almost 300 metres on the north side of the hill from which it takes its name. Cropped at 22 hl/ha, the wine ferments in barrel and rests on lees over winter with occasional stirring. It then ages in bottle for at least 12 years (150 months for this release) before the first disgorgement, as indicated on every bottle.

When the wine was first released in 2008—the 1999 vintage—Turó d’en Mota was the first pure Xarel·lo produced in the region. Today, it is widely considered one of the great, if not the greatest, sparkling wines from Spain. Luis Gutiérrez regularly rates the wine in the high nineties and little wonder. Although far from Champagne, it ages like the great grower wines to the north, developing boundless complexity while remaining alive, vibrant and super detailed. Sheer class. The 2009 and 2010 vintages we have tasted are simply extraordinary: racy, mineral and remarkably vivid and detailed.