2024 Enric Soler Espenyalluchs

This small bodega was created in 2004, when Enric Soler inherited from his grandfather a small parcel of old Xarello vines (planted in 1947). For Enric, this vineyard and the wine that comes from these vines mean the beginning of a new life. Currently, the micro winery has four wines: Nun, Espenyalluchs, Improvisació and Istiu and a total of 2.5 hectares of vineyard. These white wines are all storage wines, from the Xarel.lo grape, which is at home in this area. With a very precise way of working, Enric makes wines in all honesty, with a lively acidity in a Mediterranean climate, aromatic clarity, volume and length. Since 2017 they no longer bottle under the Penedès appellation (although they are located in this region).

Enric Soler started his career in the wine world as a sommelier, an area in which he distinguished himself with his talent for tasting and analyzing wines. Likewise, for years he has passed on his passion for this world by championing and acknowledging projects from all corners of the world. These qualities have made him a valued teacher for sommeliers in Spain. These experiences and his respect for the work in the vineyard and winemaking have led Enric Soler to specialize since 2004 in the production of exclusively white aging wines. Due to his unique personality and style of wines, he is recognized as one of the most respected producers in Spain.

The wines are vinified in the small family farm nearby that has been gradually built up. From the beginning, Enric made the decision to work his vineyards according to biodynamics. This way of working ensures that the vines come into balance. Due to the small number of plots, Enric can almost take care of the vines in a personal way. In the wine cellar, work is kept to a minimum, Enric, as it were, accompanies the wines, without complaining much about it himself.

A single variety for this winery: Xarel·lo with the exception of 300 Malvasía vines with which Enric produces his latest cuvee 'Istiu'. The specialization and research of this variety has made it possible to show the maximum expression of the Xarel·lo variety. Some of the vines, inherited from their grandfather, are more than 70 years old. The younger ones are grafted with the vines of the Vinya dels Taus vineyard to preserve the old clone of Xarel·lo.

The climate is mainly Mediterranean. In total, Enric works only 1.5ha of vineyard. The vineyards are located between 200 and 400 meters in altitude and the soils are mainly a mix of clay and limestone, airy in structure and low in organic matter. The wines thus show the maximum expression of the Xarello variety: with a soul, lively, aromatically pure and complex. In the mouth, with volume and length and with time more and more fascinating. Enric Soler and Celler Credo by Recaredo  are without doubt the benchmark in still white wines in the Penedes area