2021 Raventos i Blanc Blanc de Blancs (750ml)

Xarel-lo from Catalonia, Spain

B-21 Top Recommendation
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For over an astonishing 500 years, the Raventos family has been involved with winemaking in the Catalonia region, growing grapes on their historic family-owned estate west of Barcelona since 1497. Inspired by his belief that the fossilized marine limestone soils in the windswept Anoia River Valley would yield a complex sparkling wine, Josep Raventos Fatjo was the first to apply the traditional method used to make Champagne to classic Penedes grape varietals in the late 1800s, his son Manuel later pioneering the blend of the three indigenous grapes, Xarel.lo, Macabeu, and Parellada, that would become the standard for Cava. Witnessing the decline in the quality and reputation of Cava over the next century, the Raventos family separated itself in the 1980s from the Codorniu winery it had founded to focus on making vineyard-driven sparkling wines from their 90-hectare estate, officially withdrawing from the Cava classification in 2012 and championing the creation of a new D.O. with higher standards in the Conca del Riu Anoia area. Crafting the blend of native grapes from biodynamically farmed vines averaging 40 years of age, 21st generation winemaker Pepe Raventos vinified each varietal in stainless steel tanks before blending and bottling it for the secondary fermentation, then aged the 2021 Raventos i Blanc Blanc de Blancs on the lees for a minimum of 18 months, twice the requirement for Cava, yielding fresh, layered fruit with tantalizing minerality balanced by mouthwatering acidity on a creamy mousse.

Described as “one of Spain’s finest and most complex sparkling wines” by Vinous critic Josh Raynolds, declaring it “one of the greatest bubbly values in the world,” the elegant 90 pt. 2021 Raventos i Blanc Blanc de Blancs is a uniquely Spanish sparkler reflecting its mineral-rich terroir, impeccably crafted in the Champagne style and certain to appeal to lovers of the world’s finest sparkling wines looking for a fantastic value.

90WS

Fresh and focused, with a lacy texture, this is a minerally version overall, showing hints of smoke and stone on the nose, plus a salty underpinning to the palate's range of tangerine, ripe yellow plum, blanched almond and chamomile. Xarel-lo, Macabeu, Parellada and Malvasia de Sitges. Disgorged March 2023. Drink now through 2026. 16,600 cases made, 9,000 cases imported.

90 points, Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator (Oct 2023)

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$17.98

Compare At: $19.99

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