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Clos Lentiscus

This still white wine is light, pleasant, refined, and crisp. It should be drunk young and well chilled. It's a good thing it comes in a liter bottle, because it's easy to pour over, especially as an aperitif with lots of friends. Made from the famous traditional Catalan grape variety Xarello, it comes from vines planted on calcareous-sandy soils and harvested by hand. It is pressed directly, the must is vinified using indigenous yeasts and fermented for six months in stainless steel vats.

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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 According to historical documents, the family of Manel and Joan Avinyo has been established here since at least the 14th century. For a long time, the grapes were sold to local cooperatives, but since the two brothers took over the estate, organic and biodynamic farming has replaced conventional practices. The entire harvest is used in 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. Manel quickly earned a nickname: The Bubbleman, a tribute to his talent for vinifying cavas, the sparkling whites characteristic of the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, from native varieties that only Catalonia has the secret to: sumoll, ull de llebre, xarel·lo, malvasia from Sitges, cartoixà vermell, cariñena (carignan), accompanied by tempranillo and muscat from Alexandria. The vines are old, sometimes 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 the 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 renowned for their exuberance, 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.