Alt Penedés is arguably the most picturesque dedicated sparkling wine region on the planet. Just one hour into the mountains north of Barcelona - one of my favorite culinary and cultural destinations in Europe - warm breezes roll off the nearby Mediterranean and provide balance to the region’s sub-alpine landscape. From almost any vantage point in Alt Penedés, you can see the
jagged white fangs of Montserrat cutting into the blue sky above. Despite the made-for-Instagram scenery and thriving wine trade, Alt Penedés has somehow managed to avoid becoming a “Disneyland for adults” like so many other historic wine regions. Here, every cellar and small taverna still feels untouched, authentic and timeless.
It is in this setting that the Suriol family has lived, farmed and made wine since the 1400’s. Today, brothers Eudal and Assiz Suriol oversee all aspects of farming and winemaking on their picturesque hillside property. Eudal works in the vineyards while Assiz works primarily in the cellar. The 25-hectare farm is located in the village of Font-Rubi, with the vines sited at an elevation of 1,000 to 1,200 feet in dense, Clay-Calcareous soils. The Suriol family compound feels like a small village - a cluster of residences and cellars at the top of a hill, with a dense patchwork of small individual vineyards adorning the hillside below. There is also a large forest protecting the hillside from wind and moderating the area’s more severe temperature changes. The property has been farmed organically and without herbicides or pesticides since its creation, and became officially certified 18 years ago. Unlike the region’s larger and more recognized wine producers, who often work with industrially farmed and/or purchased fruit, the Suriol family owns and farms all their own vineyards. The family bottles a small amount of delicious red wines which do deserve your attention, but the property is primarily planted to white grape varieties; the family’s undeniable focus and livelihood is their outstanding sparkling wines.
We are offering the classic 2011 vintage of Assiz and Eudal’s perennially outstanding “Brut Nature” cuvée. This wine pulls from three distinct certified organic plots on the family’s small hillside farm. 40% of the wine is the Macabeo varietal from the “La Plana” vineyard, 30% is Xarel-lo from “L’Hort”, and the remaining 30% is Parellada from “Les Carbasses”. Unlike most modestly priced Cava, this is not a rushed wine from young vines. The average vine age of these parcels is 25 years with many far older sub-parcels. As with all Suriol wines, the base for this cuvée is fermented with only the hillside’s indigenous airborne yeast culture. There are no additives or enzymes as is so common in conventional sparkling wine production. Fermentation is carried out separately by parcel in stainless steel vat with natural malolactic fermentation occurring in underground concrete tanks during the winter after the harvest. The wine is then racked and bottled, where it rests on the lees until export. This is a slow, multi-year process, and the Suriol family’s patience and craft is made obvious by this wine’s depth and richness.
The 2011 Suriol “Brut Nature” is a pristine example of what the region of Alt Penedés does best - it’s truly vivid sense of place, purity, and overly generous price tag are what make this mountainous zone a “sweet spot” for affordable sparkling wine. In the glass, the wine has a gorgeous light golden hue with lively, refined bubbles. Aromas are classic Alt Penedés with red apple core, dried lemon, bitter melon, brioche with mushroom duxelles, raw honey, chamomile, white flowers and crushed stone. This region’s sparkling wines have never been about the laser-like, chalky directness of Champagne; rather, the warmer climate, robust soil, and indigenous grape varieties create a style that is more about broadness on the palate and a certain hard-to-define creaminess that is uniquely Spanish. I encourage you to enjoy this wine in three ways. First, it is an affordable wine to stock by the case for parties and social events. Second, it is a wonderful bottle to share with a close friend during a simple weeknight meal of tapas and jamón. As the wine warms and gradually loses its bubbles, it takes on greater depth and richness on the palate that won’t be evident if served from a cold, freshly opened bottle. Finally, I want to stress that Suriol bottles only wines that are built for the long haul. I’ve recently tasted their cavas from the mid- and early-2000’s, and can promise that this outstanding 2011 cuvée will improve for another five years with ease. As it matures, the wine’s more exotic mushroom and mineral aromas will take center stage. I love mature sparkling wines from Alt Penedés and feel strongly that this sparkling wine category is egregiously overlooked in terms of cellar potential. So, a few extra bottles of this wine in your cellar is a guilt-free opportunity to experiment with the region and the pleasures of cellar-aged sparkling wine.
