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Thirteen years on the lees. Disgorged by hand, without freezing. What is standard at Recaredo would be considered madness elsewhere.
Since 1924 the Catalan estate Recaredo has produced nothing but Brut Nature. Ton Mata, grandson of the founder, farms 50 hectares of the estate's own vineyards biodynamically and in 2019, together with like-minded growers, founded Corpinnat: a quality offensive for Spanish bottle-fermented sparkling wine beyond mass production.
More about Recaredo
156 Months of Patience: Turó d'en Mota
In 1999 Recaredo bottled the first single-vineyard Cava in history. Not as a marketing gimmick but out of conviction: the 0.97 hectares of Turó d'en Mota, planted in 1940, deserve to stand alone. The north-facing slope with its shaded areas yields Xarel·lo grapes of exceptional acidity. What follows is unparalleled: at least 156 months on the lees, more than 13 years.
The result convinced Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 95.5 points for Turó d'en Mota 2005, the highest-rated Spanish sparkling wine of all time. The current Turó d'en Mota 2011 comes from the same vines, more than 80 years old, on calcareous soil that is poor in organic matter and rich in character.
The Corpinnat Revolution
In January 2019 Ton Mata and Xavier Gramona left the Cava DO together. The two had had enough: too many industrial mass producers under the same roof. Together with Gramona, Llopart, Nadal, Sabaté i Coca and Torelló they founded Corpinnat, a collective brand with strict rules.
The requirements are radical: only estate-grown grapes, only hand harvesting, only indigenous varieties, at least 18 months on the lees. Ton Mata became co-president. His vision: sparkling wine as an expression of terroir, not an industrial product. Today Corpinnat comprises 16 estates committed to this standard of quality.
Limestone, Cork and Craftsmanship
Recaredo's 50 hectares of vineyards lie on the right bank of the river Bitlles, set in the rolling landscape of the coster del Bitlles. The soil is markedly calcareous, as the white stones between the rows reveal at once. Since 2010 Recaredo has been Demeter-certified, the first estate in the region to be so.
While other Cava producers use crown caps and freezing, Recaredo insists on natural cork throughout the second fermentation in bottle. Manual disgorging without thermal shock is craftsmanship in its purest form: the cellar master removes the yeast sediment solely through a deft movement of the bottle. No machine can do that.
The Range: From Entry Level to Enoteca
The best way to discover Recaredo is to start with the Subtil Brut Nature: 36 months on the lees, shaped by Macabeu and Xarel·lo, approachable and yet complex. The Serral del Vell 2018 comes from the single vineyard of the same name below Montserrat: 255 to 280 metres of altitude, a cooler microclimate, even more finesse.
At the top are the single-vineyard wines: Reserva Particular with at least 60 months of ageing and the legendary Turó d'en Mota with its 13+ years. For collectors, the Enoteca series offers historic vintages from the archive, bottles that have sometimes spent 20 years or more on the lees.
All the wines are Brut Nature: zero grams of dosage. What is in the bottle comes solely from the grape and from time.