CHARACTERISTICS
Attractively greenish in hue. Deliciously fruity in aroma with all the sumptuous personality of the variety. Mouthfilling, long and absolutely distinctive: its lively, peppery freshness counterbalanced by a modicum of the residual, grapey sweetness that is the hallmark of the variety.
WINEMAKING
The base for this wine is essentially made from grapes harvested at their maximum ripeness. Hand harvested, with transport provided by the winery, grapes are hand chosen upon selection table and then pressed in whole clusters.
Further, the wine owes its individuality to long, low temperature fermentations on the lees (which can last as long as three months) exaggerating the varieties aromatic characteristics. Following fermentation and clarification the wine is allowed to rest over the winter months and gently fined immediately prior to labelling and release.
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VINEYARDS
The Alella region is formed by a great mass of granite. The soils are generally poor in nutrients, with low water retention and a moderate pH.
It's texture is variable: from the rough sandy sauló on the maritime side of the area, to the sandy clays on the inland plain.
The vineyards are planted at a density of 3.700 ceps per Hectare with 2,2 m between rows and 1.2m between the vines.
This creates competition between the plants and enable us, together with the trellising, to achieve a high leaf canopy area (1,4 m2).
The rows are planted from North to South, and where possible on flat land.
Whilst the older vineyards are still in Gobelet (bush-vine) form, the newer plantations are all trellised using the cordon de royat system. The vines are pruned short, leaving 4 spurs with 2 shoots each to achieve the ideal balance of vigour and production.
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THE CELLAR
Well aware that a large part of success in winemaking depends on the quality of the raw material, the grapes are treated with the utmost care from the moment they are picked until they reach the cellar to ensure they maintain their characteristics: Grapes are picked by hand and transported to the cellar in 20kg boxes.
At the reception area of the cellar they are sorted according to degree of ripeness and sanitary state and pass a strict selection table. The grapes with the ideal degree of ripeness undergo a pre-fermentation maceration to exploit their aromatic typicity.
The grapes are pressed in our pneumatic press and the first must undergoes a static clarification in small stainless steel tanks to separate the juice from the solids in suspension. These techniques help us achieve a clearer must without having to use oenological products, maintaining the primary characteristics of the grapes.
The wines ferment at a controlled low temperature in stainless steel tanks or in new Allier French oak barrels. The low temperatures make for slow fermentations that can take as long as three months, but the prolonged contact with the finer lees give greater aromatic and taste complexity.
At the same time these long fermentations allow the wines to self-clarify, thus conserving their aromatic characteristics and intensity and reducing the number of rakings required.
In barrel-fermentation, once the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations are completed, the ageing period begins. During ageing, the lees are regularly stirred (battonage) to round the taste and aromas of the wine. The length of the ageing period varies year to year depending on the vintage and is determined by regularly tasting the barrels.
Finally the wines are stabilised and filtered prior to bottling.
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