Region: Corpinnat, Catalonia, Spain

Varietal: 60% Xarel·lo, 30% Macabeu, 10% Parellada

Tasting notes: The nose has medium intensity with elegant floral notes wrapped in stone fruit such as peach, apricot, golden apple, lemon peel, closed by a shy note of raw almond. The palate has a round entrance, medium enveloping body, crispy carbonic texture. In the retro-nasal route citrus memories return, the apple, the almond. Very refreshing and long finish.

Producer: The Gramona family traces their history as grape growers and winemakers back to 1850 when Josep Batlle managed the vineyard of La Plana for a local family. His son Pau, who was active in the wine cork trade was uniquely positioned to begin selling the wines made from La Plana to sparkling wine producers in France who were at the time suffering from the ravages of phylloxera. By 1881 Pau was in the position to purchase the vineyard of La Plana and to establish Celler Batlle. It was at this time that Pau realized that Xarel.lo, the indigenous grape to this part of Catalunya, was instrumental in his success selling wines to France due to its ability to make well-aged sparkling wines. Pau’s daughter Pilar married Bartolomé Gramona and together they continued to expand their vineyards and sparkling wine business and in 1921 “Gramona Cava Champagne” first began to appear on their bottles of sparkling wine. By 1945, Pilar and Bartolomé’s sons, Bartomeu & Josep Lluis took over the management of Gramona and began to elaborate the cuvées that the estate is known for today.

Vineyard and Winemaking: La Cuvee from Gramona is sourced from 13 growers/members of Aliances per la Terra, an organization established to promote organic and biodynamic farming in the Penedès. Currently, all these growers are certified organic, and 12 are certified biodynamic. The most “youthful” of the sparkling wines released by Gramona, La Cuvee is a blend of 45% Xarel.lo, 45% Macabeu, and 10% Parellada from a total of 11 hectares of vineyards. It is aged for a minimum of 30 months sur lattes and finished with a dosage of between 4-6 g/L before release—80,000 bottles released in an average vintage.