2018 Recaredo Corpinnat Intens Rosat Brut Nature BIO

At Recaredo, the bottles are disgorged by hand without freezing the neck. The Cavas from Recaredo belong to the pinnacle of sparkling wines and the quality in many cases exceeds the well-known champagne houses. Together with Mestres , Recaredo is the Masters in the field of Long-aged Cava's (long aged cavas) and almost without exception beat many well-known champagne brands and certainly if price is taken into account because then they beat all French colleagues in our opinion.

The Recaredo Intense is a long-aged sparkling wine that is dry, lively, enticing and gastronomically a masterpiece. The Recaredo Intense is made from a mosaic of vineyards. The plots are located in the territory of Corpinnat, the birthplace of great sparkling wines in the historic wine-growing area of ​​the Penedès south of Barcelona, ​​​​where the production of sparkling wines according to the traditional method was started at the end of the 19th century .

Recaredo Intense is grown according to the principles of biodynamic agriculture, a step further than organic. The biodynamic approach allows the winemaker to make wines that are rich in nuances, have excellent aging potential and respect the landscape from which they come. The plant cover is allowed to grow spontaneously between the tendrils. This ground cover plays a crucial role in loosening the soil, regulating water retention and drainage (essential in a dry agricultural system) and promoting biodiversity.

After a number of vintages marked by drought, in 2018 people had to look more to the sky for sun and dryness. The rains especially in the spring are always tense and especially for organic viticulture as fungi are lurking and chemicals to combat this are out of the question so being active and continuous in the vineyard means an exciting challenge and requires rigorous pruning and leaf removal to prevent problems with fungal diseases, such as downy mildew.

After the wet spring, the harvest took place in perfect conditions and there was clearly less harvested in terms of quantity, but in quality the grapes had a great purity and very good health. The average yield for Recaredo vineyards in 2018 was : 43.4 hl/ha The Upper limit set by Corpinnat is 80 hl/ha so almost half less than what is possible but the motto at Recaredo is: Less production, more terroir driven and higher quality .

The Recaredo Intense Rosat is a Brut Nature, so without added sugars, is organic, biodynamic and vegan and very low in sulfur. The total sulfite is only 18 mg/l (for your information: 150 mg/l is the max. allowed by the EU for organic wines

The Recaredo Intense Rosat Brut Nature is a mix of 86% Monastrell and 14% Garnacha from two small family vineyards. The wine has matured in the bottle for a total of 30 months (and of course with a natural cork). The wine has a deep, dark, pink color. The grapes are macerated with the skins for six hours (which explains the colour) and 10% by volume aged in oak barrels for two months before being blended and refermented in bottle with neutral yeast; it will be released again after no less than three years. The delicate Grenache and the sweet Monastrell go hand in hand in this intense, dry and beautiful pink cava from Recaredo. In the glass, the sparkling bubbles let intense red and ripe fruits drift from the glass with spicy notes, which linger in the mouth after tasting. Fresh, dry with nice fruit. This is a wine that improves over time.

Recaredo's advice is to serve this wine in a Burgundy glass, because the explosive notes need room to breathe. This is actually more of a beautiful wine that happens to have bubbles and is different and incomparable to the majority of the effervescent Rosés.

Under the tab Attachment you will find the technical sheet, information about winery and the awards

Since 2006, all 50 hectares of their vineyards are cultivated according to DEMETER regulations. This makes this Cava a certified organic cava. The grapes are picked by hand and fermented separately for each plot in their own cellar. They only use 40% of the must, only the first juice released after bruising is good enough for their cava. The fermentation of the must takes place partly in oak and partly in a steel tank. After fermentation and assembly of the still wine, the bottles are filled and capped with a natural cork to disappear for a period of between 30 and 120 months in the beautiful cellars of Recaredo. Every 14 months the bottles are shaken and moved to 'move' the yeast present in the bottle. According to Ton Mata, this ensures a better development of the taste. When the bottles are ready for disgorgement, they are moved to Pupitres where they are turned by hand so that the yeast plug slowly descends to the neck.

ABOUT CORPINNAT

Recaredo is part of Corpinnat, which was founded in 2016 by a number of (high-end) producers who have distanced themselves from DO Cava, mainly because of the fact that no distinction can be made in quality in the CAVA model. Corpinnat is therefore, just like Cava (or Champagne), a sparkling wine that is made via the traditionelle method, i.e. by a second fermentation in the bottle and this creates the bubbles and this is a brand name founded by a number of quality producers who wanted to distinguish With Corpinnat as protected brand (such as a Grandcru or a Grande Reserva) not only determines the region for the naming, but also the terroir and that is much more than just the area; it is also about climate, grape varieties, the vineyard and the winery.