Espenyalluchs - Xarel.lo

Xarel.lo | single vineyard | in 2011 geplant (regraften) op oude onderstokken | met de klonen uit de wijngaard NUN Vinya dels Taus | vermeerderd in Montpellier en niet in Penedès omdat Enric bang was andere klonen materiaal terug te krijgen dan uit de NUN Vinya dels TAUS | een kleine 'serrel'  met een 'rocky terroir' van 1 ha op 400 meter hoogte | vergist en rijpt op 4-5 jaar oude 300l Franse eikenhouten vaten voor 8 maanden | 13% | goed volume en veel structuur | hazelnoot | umami | indrukwekkend | "my own Corton Grand Cru" aldus Enric Soler

Enric Soler

De wijngaarden van Enric Soler zijn in de Spaanse burgeroorlog een vliegveld, maar inmiddels ligt de wijngaard er strak bij. Enric is in de jaren negentig de beste sommelier van Spanje geweest en inmiddels doceert hij ook aan de wijnuniversiteit. De 2,5 hectare heeft hij overgenomen van zijn opa, waar hij nu wijnen maakt met een echte Bourgondische insteek. De grond waar de Xarel.Lo staat aangeplant is arm en het weer vaak koel, juist daardoor werken de stokken hard en dat proef je terug!

Review

The 2017 Espenyalluchs is Xarello from a 0.98-hectare vineyard planted in 2011 on stony soils on a slope at 400 meters in altitude. It fermented in used 300-liter French barriques with indigenous yeasts and without any oenological products. This was bottled at 13% alcohol with a pH of 3.3 and six grams of acidity (tartaric) after eight months in barrel. This is the most austere of the four whites I tasted from 2017. The oak is very integrated, and it shows the great purity of Xarello—it feels, clean, austere and elegant, more about finesse that power. Precise, symmetric, chiseled, and in a warm-ish year! Amazing! I see this in line with 2016 and 2014. 2,215 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2018. Luis Guttiérez 94/100

Enric Soler produces 10,000 bottles of wines wine per year, including one of the most personal whites from Spain: the Nun Vinya dels Taus, which is produced from an old Xarello vineyard planted in 1945 that he works biodynamically. Contrary to many other regions in Spain, 2016 was extremely warm and dry here. 2017 was a more normal year, but the end of the season was warmer and the ripeness was accelerated, resulting in the earliest harvest ever. However, acidity didn't drop, and the wines, which are very aromatic, expressive and open, also have good freshness. But what I love is that the four whites each have a marked personality. A name to follow. I also had the chance to taste all the vintages of the flagship Nun Vinya dels Taus, from the initial 2004 to the current 2017, and none of the wines were over the hill. The 2005 is perhaps the most evolved and has started showing some honeyed notes, and it is also the ripest, with 14.5% alcohol; the initial 2004 is possibly the most fragile. I'd say the wine starts showing its best at age six to eight. But there are basically three eras: 2004 to 2009, when the oak seemed more evident, then there is a jump in quality from 2010, and then again from 2013. Surprisingly, the 2017 seemed to have the freshness of the 2013 (and the years were very different, but Enric Soler told me both had great temperature differences between day and night). I wanted to get scores for all of the wines but didn't write detailed tasting notes for the older vintages, so they are here in a very rough draft/sketch form. Luis Guttiérez.