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A quenching pet nat of Xarel-lo from the old vines of his Tires del Nan vineyard, planted back in the late 50s. Given a short time on skins in steel, the wine is then transferred to bottle to complete its fermentation and given one year on lees before disgorgement.
Full of lively, frothy bubbles, the wine gives off the savoury, spiced aromas of the grape variety along with a touch of brioche and a floral lilt. Despite the age of the vines, this is fun and easygoing stuff - an inviting mix of honeyed tropical fruit and salty lemons with an oily, beeswax texture beneath the fizz. As is the Vinyes Singulars way, it is a wine of celebration that brings to mind sunshine and the potential of long al fresco lunches.
Part of a long history in the region, Ignasi Sigui is the 22nd generation of his family to farm the land here, an estate founded in the Alt Penedès as far back as the 1400s. Combining the duty to upholding tradition with a restless, forward-thinking energy, Ignasi established Vinyes Singulars in 2009 as a new way of expressing the 20 hectares of vines that sit amongst a wider expanse of cereal crops, olive trees, vegetable gardens and forest. The entire surface has been certified organic since 2010.
South of Barcelona, the region is more widely known for commercial Cava production, although pockets of growers like Ignasi exist in the fringes, tending old vineyard parcels, preserving local varietals that have fallen out of favour and using traditional methods to make the wine.
The 20 hectares produces roughly 50,000 bottles of wine annually, but, with the vines being dotted over myriad small parcels, and Ignasi's desire to express each of these parcels individually, he makes upwards of 30 different cuvées each year, some in tiny quantities. The idea being that each wine represents an individual part of this fertile, sun-drenched idyll. We have cherry-picked just a small selection of them to start.
Being in the higher part of the region, the vines sit between 500-600 meters altitude and are planted over the typical argilo-calcaire mix of limestone and clay. It's an enviable spot, enjoying hot days of scorching Mediterranean sun and cooler nights, the proximity to the coast bringing in moderating winds from over the Balearic sea. The resulting wines are lithe and energetic, full of fresh citrus, oceanic salts and minerals. Extending on the organic work in the vines, they all ferment with native yeasts, are unfiltered and have no additions.