LLOPART BRUT RESERVA - CAVA 2016 - Spain - Sparkling

Grapes harvested by hand at the of the land expresses itself in their Sparkling Wine. Attractive bright pale gold color. Fine and constant bubbles. Clean aroma which is dominated by the primary aromas of the fruit. Lingering acidity with hints of white fruits. Enjoy it matching it with aperitif, celebrations and desserts. Blend: 40% Xarel-lo, 30% Macabeo, 30% Parellada. Once bottled for the second fermentation, long ageing on the lees is the norm at Llopart, for at least 18 months and up to ten years.  Current Cava rules insist on only 9 months minimum, with 15 months for Reserva level, and 30 months for Gran Reserva. Riddling is still done by hand for the top wines, though there are also modern gyropalettes, a French invention pioneered in Spain. Rather than NV, vintage-dated wines are the norm thanks to the clement Catalonian climate. All the wines indicate their disgorgement date on the label, so the amount of ageing is also transparent. As there are no animal products used, the wines are vegan and vegetarian.

WINEMAKING: 

Llopart’s modern winery is almost entirely underground, buried in the hillside with a vineyard planted on top, so reducing footprint and visual impact. The winemaking here uses the traditional method, though the local grape varieties and terroir mean a distinctively Catalan interpretation, not an imitation Champagne. The base wines are fermented individually by plot, in temperature-controlled stainless steel, with blending afterwards. The secondary, malolactic fermentation which would soften the natural acidity is discouraged. 

HISTORY OF THE FINE BUBBLES :

The Llopart family can trace their roots here to a document from 1385 when family ancestor Bernardus Leopardi was granted vineyards at Subirats. Eventually, the family farm became dedicated to wine. Sparkling wine started in 1887 when Llopart adopted sparkling wine methods from Champagne.  Those early years were commercially successful, being before phylloxera crossed the Pyrenees from France. The French, with their vineyards already devastated, bought wine from nearby Catalonia and there was a ready market in cosmopolitan Barçelona. Eventually, Catalonia suffered the same fate but by then sparkling wine had become established. In the early 1950s, Pere Llopart I Vilarós began his lifelong journey to take Llopart’s sparklers to a whole new level of quality. So influential was he that he gained the Creu de Sant Jordi for his life’s work. Given this history, it’s perhaps not surprising that Llopart joined the Corpinnat group of producers, which formed in April 2018 and broke away from Cava in February 2019.