Raventos i Blanc de la Finca 2015 Sparkling Wine

De la Finca sparkling wine is made with grapes from the house's oldest vines, planted using the gobelet system in 1964 in the Vinya dels Fòssils. Brilliant straw-yellow. Lemon zest, quinine, pungent flowers, and ginger on the incisive, mineral-accented nose. Chewy in texture, sharply focused and dry, showing impressive clarity to its sappy pear, Meyer lemon, and bitter quinine flavours, which deepen slowly on the back half. Finishes impressively long, mineral, and energetic, leaving subtle herb and floral notes behind.

93/100 - Jancis Robinson
"The smoky 2015 De la Finca, which has the subtitle 'Vinya dels Fòssils' on the label, was inspired by the original blend of this wine that was created by Pepe Raventós’s grandfather, who founded the winery. It comes from poor limestone soils that tend to produce more austere wines. It has more influence from the contact with the lees in bottle (it's disgorged some three years after the harvest) but still keeping its youth. There are Mediterranean notes of fennel and underbrush and a saline core that gives it an electric palate. 2015 was very dry and warm, and the wines are a little riper, with more integrated acidity."

50% Xarel·lo grape harvested from goblet-trained vines since 1964 and Espalier-trained vines since 2002. 40% Macabeu grape harvested from Espalier-trained
vines since 1994. And 10% Parellada harvested from goblet-trained vines planted in 1994. Zero dosage. Biodynamic viticulture.

Raventós i Blanc are a small, family-owned house, based on 90 hectares at Sant Sadurní d'Anoia. Although a growing estate since 1497, it wasn't until 1984 that family patriarch Josep Maria Raventós and scion Manuel Raventós i Negra struck out with their own brand, produced entirely from estate fruit. From 2012, Raventós ceased from calling their wines Cava, preferring their own appellation; Conca del Riu de Anoia. Raventós i Blanc are solely responsible for the birth of this would-be appellation, which they admit will take a generation to achieve full force. Current family head, Pepe Raventós, lists organic viticulture, proper custodianship of a land for the future, and the centality of life based around a 'masia' (farmhouse) as key motives for the shift. This is an arcadian dream of a Catalan country culture deeply rooted in the land, resulting in a balanced ecology partly concerned with producing estate-based, high-quality wines based entirely on local grapes.