Description
The 5-century old (and absolutely tiny!) family estate Caves Nadal is one of the six original properties to establish the appellation of Corpinnat in 2018, formed as a rebuke of Cava's trend towards mass production and non-indigenous varietals (it now boasts the highest and most stringent standards of any Champagne method appellation in the world: tightly policed organic farming, hand-harvest, estate growing, single address vinification and cellaring). But beyond their world class bubbles lies a particular oddity - the bizarrely red-skinned variant of Xarel-lo (Cava/Corpinnat's chief variety), Xarel-lo Vermell.
At real risk of extinction by the end of the 20th century, Xarel-lo Vermell is still seriously rare. Of the only 100ha planted, Nadal has 7ha, one of, if not the largest holding of the variety in the world. Despite its fuchsia hue on the vine, it carries only a suggestion of pink into the glass (likely more the result of the power of suggestion rather than any real influence of color tannin in the finished wine). Nadal ferments theirs in stainless, with batonnage (stirring the lees) for 6 months before resting 6 months in bottle. The result communicates a similar saline underpinning that forms the hallmark of wines from Catalunya. But whereas the Xarel-lo that dominates the landscape here is somewhat more angular, Vermell is generously textured, an interplay of stone fruits, honeycomb, nougat, cardamom, and white pepper.