Grape Variety: Xarel Lo
Producer: Tiques (Joan Rubió)
Region: Penedès, Catalunya, Spain
Wild Scale: 2/5
Winemaking: Organic Xarel Lo grapes were harvested by hand. The grapes were put into stainless steel and macerated for 10 days. Just the first free-run juice was kept, no pressing. Fermentation with indigenous yeast. Aged on the lees. No fining or added sulphur.
This Wine: Rich and saline white wine that is often talked about as a Catalan equivalent of white Burgundy or Jura. Clean and pure with notes of citrus and seaweed. A wine to have with food.
Notes on the Winemaker: Joan Rubió has a reputation as the 'master of Xarel Lo' and it is fully deserved. He spent years working for arguably the finest Cava house Recaredo before setting off on his solo adventure Tiques. He is an expert on biodynamic farming and teaches these practices to many other winemakers in the region. His wines are rich and precise and could even be mistaken for premium white Burgundy.