Wines of the World

Magnum VY Vinyater Ancestral Sparkling White 2014

Partida Creus

Magnum VY Vinyater Ancestral Sparkling White 2014

€106,00

Magnum VY Vinyater Ancestral Sparkling White 2014

Partida Creus
Lively and fresh, creamy and full-bodied on the palate, this is a superb natural sparkling wine made from Vinyater (a traditional Catalan grape variety) that should be enjoyed, especially now that it has aged a little and is developing all the richness of its fresh notes – white flowers, almonds, white fruits – and its magnificent length. It will shine as an aperitif, for celebrations, and at the table with seafood, grilled white meats, sweetbreads, or a beautiful financial vol-au-vent. Vinyater is harvested by hand; Alcoholic fermentation takes place on the skins and on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats. The wine finishes its fermentation for ten months in bottles on fine lees.

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Partida Creus is an important estate, both from a winemaking and historical perspective – we are talking here about the history of the vine in Catalonia. Massimo Marchiori and Antonella Gerosa, originally from Piedmont – and even from the Langhe region, where they know a lot about wines – first pursued careers as architects in Barcelona. But the wine bug bit them, and soon they abandoned the big city and its sophistication for the vineyards of southern Catalonia, in Bonastre in Baix-Penedés. There they find a quantity of abandoned vineyards planted with a dizzying diversity of traditional Catalan grape varieties that they passionately revive to save these varieties – and their wines – from oblivion. For them, it is not just a matter of heritage rescue, no: it is a matter of taste and nature. Of natural wines, which they will never stop making from now on on these sandy, poor, clay-limestone or clay-gravel soils, poor and poorly irrigated, where the vines suffer to give their best juice. Massimo and Antonella practice organic, biodynamic viticulture, entirely manual and natural in order to give new life to these wines. Vinyater, sumoll, garrut, monastrell, ull de perdiu, ull de llebre, sumoll, queixal de llop, cariñena, trepat, subirat parent, maccabeu, parellada, pansé, vinel·lo, bobal, cartoixà vermell or xarel·lo: Partida Creus is a veritable conservatory of native Catalan grape varieties. It also grows moscatel, grenache, merlot and cabernet (among others). Few wineries can boast growing so many different grape varieties. The wines reflect this diversity, with the winemakers striving to best convey the signature of the soil and the grape variety: single-variety wines are common among them, alongside extensive blends, all in the styles dear to Catalonia: still wine, "ancestral" sparkling wine, and even vermouth. The bottles themselves are works of art: bare glass, simply marked with two large stenciled initials that denote the vintage. The wines, fresh, vibrant, lush yet always straightforward and impeccably juicy and fruity, exude life. The arrival of a Partida Creus at the table always elicits cries of satisfaction.

Clos Lentiscus

Xarel Lo Domaine Blanc 2016

€30,00

Xarel Lo Domaine Blanc 2016

Clos Lentiscus
Festive, light, and crisp, this dry white wine made from pure Xarel Lo is, above all, a seducer. Aromatic and creamy with beautiful notes of white peach and tropical fruit accents, it has something to please every palate. The vines from which it comes grow on sandy-limestone soil. After the manual harvest, maceration is brief and pressing is very gentle to obtain the best from the grapes. Fermentation takes place in French oak barrels with indigenous yeasts. Aging takes place in the same containers for six months. Best served chilled.

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It is in Sitges, Catalonia, in the heart of the Garraf Natural Park, that Manel Avinyo and his brother Joan took over the family estate, renamed Clos Lentiscus by Manel. Even though Barcelona is only a half-hour drive away, the beauty of the landscape is striking and the immersion in nature is total: Mediterranean forests rub shoulders with Catalan scrubland (thyme, rosemary, rockrose, mastic tree which gave its name to the estate, etc.). The Penedès region also has a long winemaking history. Nestled in its gentle hills is Clos Lentiscus, in the Penedés appellation, on twenty hectares of sandy and clay-limestone soils facing due south at an altitude of 225 meters. According to historical documents, the family of Manel and Joan Avinyo has been established there since at least the 14th century. For a long time, the grapes were sold to local cooperatives, but as soon as the two brothers took over the estate, organic and biodynamic farming replaced conventional practices, the entire harvest goes into the house vintages, and organic and biodynamic practices have allowed this beautiful property to regain its former prestige: in the 19th century, its wines were sold in France and as far away as the Americas. Very quickly, Manel received a nickname: The Bubbleman, a tribute to his talent for vinifying cavas, these sparkling whites characteristic of the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, from indigenous varieties for which Catalonia holds the secret: sumoll, ull de llebre, xarel·lo, malvasia of Sitges, cartoixà vermell, cariñena (carignan), accompanied by tempranillo and muscat of Alexandria. The vines are old, some of them centuries old. No synthetic additives are used in the vineyard, and operations such as planting, pruning, de-budding, and harvesting are dictated by the lunar phases. Pollination is facilitated by the presence of beehives; sheep contribute to fertilization and control of the plant cover. Ringo, the white horse, takes care of working the soil.

Elegance, purity, and a crisp minerality due to limestone characterize the productions of Clos Lentiscus. The note of controlled oxidation, when it is felt, does not dominate the tasting, and the wines are never deviant. The cavas are known for being exuberant, but those of Clos Lentiscus never have more than two grams of residual sugar per liter. The estate also produces still wines, red, white, and rosé.

Clos Lentiscus

Love Potion White 2019

€37,00

Partida Creus

Magnum BB “Cerrailla” Red 2019

€77,00

Magnum BB "Cerrailla" Red 2019

Partida Creus
The Partida Creus estate is the brainchild of two Piedmontese natives from the Langhe (where wine is well-known), Antonella Gerosa and Massimo Marchiori, who initially pursued careers as architects in Barcelona. But the wine bug bit them, and they soon abandoned the big city and its sophistication for the vineyards of southern Catalonia, in Bonastre in Baix-Penedés. There, they found a wealth of abandoned vineyards planted with a dizzying diversity of traditional Catalan grape varieties, which they passionately revived to save these varieties—and their wines—from oblivion. For them, it's not just a matter of heritage rescue, no: it's a matter of taste and nature. Of natural wines, which they will continue to make from now on on these sandy, poor, clay-limestone or clay-gravel soils, poor and poorly irrigated, where the vines suffer to give their best juice. This is why their estate is as important from a winemaking perspective as it is from a historical perspective - we are talking here about the history of the vine in Catalonia.
Massimo and Antonella practice organic, biodynamic viticulture, entirely manual and natural in order to give new life to these wines. Vinyater, sumoll, garrut, monastrell, ull de perdiu, ull de llebre, sumoll, queixal de llop, cariñena, trepat, subirat parent, maccabeu, parellada, pansé, vinel.lo, bobal, cartoixà vermell or xarel.lo: Partida Creus is a veritable conservatory of native Catalan grape varieties. It also grows moscatel, grenache, merlot and cabernet (among others). Few wineries can boast growing so many different grape varieties. The wines reflect this diversity, with the winemakers striving to best convey the signature of the soil and the grape variety: single-variety wines are common among them, alongside extensive blends, all in the styles dear to Catalonia: still wine, "ancestral" sparkling wine, and even vermouth. The bottles themselves are works of art: bare glass, simply marked with two large stenciled initials that denote the vintage. The wines, fresh, vibrant, lush but always straightforward and impeccably juicy and fruity, breathe life. The arrival of a Partida Creus at the table always elicits cries of satisfaction. This 100% Bobal is a racy and finely wild red from the Cerrailla plot, built on a grape variety common in Spain but whose expression here is very original. Dark cherry red color; on the nose, candy, sweet flowers, fresh fruits, violet, thyme. On the palate, a lot of distinction: a straight acidity and morello cherry, ripe plum, black pepper, a small saline touch on the finish. Serve well chilled.

Frank Cornelissen

Magnum Susucaru Rosato Rosé 2020

€59,00

La Senda, Diego Losada

Vindemiatrix Red 2020

€11,50

Vindemiatrix Red 2020,

La Senda
La Bodega La Senda is the creation of Diego Losada, a native of Bierzo, a region in the northwest of the province of León, bordered to the north by Asturias and to the west by Galicia. Pilgrims traveling to Compostela via the Camino Francés or the Camino de Invierno can admire its magnificent landscapes, where ancient vineyards cover the hilltops. Viticulture dates back to Roman times, but the region was so traumatized by the phylloxera crisis that vines were not replanted until the mid-20th century, without massive uprooting, giving these vines an average age of forty to seventy years. Born in Ponferrada, in the northern Bierzo, Diego has never been one for compromise. Resolutely radical, with a passion for freedom and rigor, he first applied this disposition to music in the heavy metal band he formed with his high school friends. It was later to wine that he would devote this same passion, studying organic chemistry at university and learning the scientific aspects of viticulture. But the scientific rigidity and conventional methods he discovered on some of the estates where he worked did not satisfy him. Attracted to a viticulture closer to the land, Diego reclaimed a few plots to showcase the Bierzo terroir as naturally as possible. In 2012, he created the La Senda estate, whose name means "the path," on the outskirts of his hometown. His wines would be like him: honest, frank, natural, and expressive. Not awarded the designation of origin, they are the pure reflection of their soils and their climate, of the personality and energy of their creator.
This very pretty, dense, homogeneous and balanced red, with a beautiful dark color, is composed of Mencia (90%), a grape variety from the Trousseau, and 10% Doña Blanca and Palomino. Unfiltered and unsulfured, it comes from seventy to ninety-year-old vines grown in the north of Bierzo on a homogeneous plot with clay-limestone soils very rich in quartz, at an altitude of 550 meters. The grapes macerate for three to four days in old, unsealed chestnut vats; the wines are aged in French oak barrels for eleven months. This is a magnificent red typical of the earthy style of Bierzo: both dense and fresh, powerful and fruity (red and black fruits), crossed by a breath of smoke, violets and spices. Velvety and fleshy on the palate. For stews and black truffles... This is also an excellent bottle to introduce you to the La Senda style; it will be even more eloquent in a carafe.
Natural wine with no added sulfites.

Cyclic Beer Farm

Trepat Wine Beer 2020

€12,80

Trepat Beer with Wine 2020,

Cyclic Beer Farm
Packaged in 75 cl bottles so that everyone can satisfy their thirst, the beers from the Barcelona-based brewery Cyclic Beer Farm play between classicism and flights of inspiration, in a contrasting and creative way, in the Catalan style. Based on classic principles and a Belgian fermentation model, the two brewer-winemakers Joshua and Alberto play with ingredients, aromas, and macerations, including cereals, fruits, vegetables, and grape skins from Catalan grape varieties, to achieve flavors reminiscent of an unidentified drinkable object (OBNI). Whether they assert themselves on balance or on a certain controlled dissonance, these beers will never leave you indifferent and will reveal their full potential in the summer heat, served well chilled.
At 4.25% alcohol, Trepat is part of the Cyclic Beer Farm 2020 Wine Ales series, which also includes Garnatxa, Carignan and Xarel·10. They are fermented with the marc of local grape varieties. All the grapes are organic and harvested by hand before being pressed or macerated for the production of wines. The resulting marc (skins and stems) is then added to already fermented and aged beers, selected for each type of grape variety. A maceration of one to six months follows to allow the residual sugar to complete its fermentation and the character of the grape variety to be communicated to the beer through infusion. Before bottling, brewers decide whether or not to add beer to achieve the desired flavors, based on acidity, the natural taste of the grape variety, tannins, complexity, and drinkability.
Brewers choose beers from three bases: their saison, their sour base (fermented from their blend of lactic acid bacteria and their blend of indigenous yeasts), and their "funky" base (indigenous yeasts and a cocktail of brettanomyces-type yeasts). After blending and bottling, the beers referment and mature for varying lengths of time.
Trepat is brewed with the marc of the local grape variety of the same name, an ancient variety with raspberry notes. It first seduces with a pretty bubble-gum pink color that announces freshness. It is delicious and seductive with its notes of raspberry, blackberry and its finely musky character, like the grape variety that goes into its composition.

La Vinicola di Antonio Gismondi