Enric Soler

From sommelier to winemaker

Spain's best sommelier in 1997 – a title that opens doors. Enric Soler ran a renowned sommelier school in Barcelona, tasted the great wines of the world and knew exactly what he was missing: a vineyard of his own. When his grandfather died in 2004, he faced a choice – sell the inherited plot or farm it himself. He chose the gamble. In Sabanell, a hamlet in the Alt Penedès near Barcelona, he took over Cal Raspallet, a Catalan farmhouse from the late 19th century. Beneath it, a cellar with room for his first barrels.

The Xarel·lo vines his grandfather had planted in 1945 were almost 80 years old – and Enric recognised their potential. A grape that mostly disappears into Cava, or gets dressed up in too much oak, was finally to show what it is capable of.

Vinya dels Taus – the vineyard of the molehills

The name of his flagship wine tells a story: Vinya dels Taus means “vineyard of the molehills” in Catalan. Anyone who visits the plot understands at once why – at certain times of year the ground is littered with them. The old vines are not harmed by it. Their roots reach deep into the calcareous, sandy subsoil, where they find water and nutrients even in dry years.

This vineyard covers just 0.89 hectares and has a spectacular backdrop in the jagged Montserrat massif. The Mediterranean, a climatic buffer, is only 30 kilometres away. Cool nights at 400 metres preserve acidity – an advantage that Familia Nin-Ortiz in nearby Priorat also knows how to use. No coincidence: Ester Nin, who stands behind Clos Erasmus and her own estate, has advised Enric on vinification for years.

Biodynamics and Burgundian ambitions

Enric has worked biodynamically since 2005 – the ladybirds on the gnarled vines are no accident. Harvesting is by hand into 15-kilo crates, fermentation is spontaneous with wild yeasts, and the must is left uncorrected. In the cellar he experiments with different vessels: concrete eggs for the Improvisació, which also gets skin contact, used oak barrels for freshness, new 300-litre barrels for structure.

The Nun Vinya dels Taus marked a turning point for still Xarel·lo in the Penedès: Burgundian ambition, oak ageing with cellaring potential, quick success among sommeliers. The Espenyalluchs forgoes the concrete egg and goes for a more purist, mineral mouthfeel – almost salty, cool, with a depth that needs time.

Small, precise, uncompromising

From a single wine and 2,000 bottles at the start, production has grown to four wines and a good 10,000 bottles – still a micro-estate more than two decades later. The wines regularly sell out fast, and the ratings in Wine Advocate and Guía Peñín are high. Anyone who lets a bottle of Nun mature in the cellar will be rewarded: complexity and freshness that unfold over years.

Enric Soler has proved what he suspected as a sommelier: Xarel·lo can hold its own with the best white wines in the world.