Llopart Corpinnat Brut Nature Reserva 2022
£17.95
The wine
With lovely purity, the clean bouquet leads to a fine and persistent mousse and a perfect balance between subtle fruity notes and delicate tertiary ageing overtones. Brut Nature means no dosage at all, so there is nowhere to hide.
Brut Nature means no dosage at all: no sugar is added after disgorgement, so the wine stands entirely on its own fruit and structure. It is the most demanding style to make, since there is nothing to cover a shortcoming, and it suits Xarel-lo, which has the body and texture to fill the gap.
The producer
Llopart
View all Llopart winesThe Llopart family have farmed at Subirats in the Penedes since 1385, and the property has passed down through more than twenty generations. They have made sparkling wine since 1887.
What sets them apart now is Corpinnat. In 2019 a group of leading growers left the Cava appellation altogether, frustrated that a designation covering enormous industrial production could not distinguish their wines from it, and formed Corpinnat instead. Its rules are considerably stricter: all grapes must be organic, hand-harvested and grown in the Penedes heartland, everything must be vinified on the estate, and the wines must age a minimum of eighteen months on the lees against Cava's nine.
The grapes are the traditional Catalan trio, Macabeu, Xarel-lo and Parellada, with Xarel-lo the distinctive one: thick-skinned, high in natural antioxidants and capable of long ageing. The estate is farmed organically and sits at around 350 metres, which is high for the region.
