Partida Creus BB Bobal 2020

Partida Creus sources the Bobal for this wine from old bush vines in Narboneta, in the province of Cuenca, roughly 350 meters above sea level and about 100 kilometers inland from their cellar in Bonastre. Bobal is native to that high-altitude interior terrain, where clay-limestone soils and a dry, continental climate push the variety to ripen several weeks later than grapes grown in Penedès itself. Massimo and Antonella travel south each harvest to hand-pick the fruit in the cool of the morning before returning to Bonastre for processing.

In the cellar, the wine undergoes spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts and a short three-day skin maceration. Given Bobal's thick skins, three days is enough to pull structure and color without excessive extraction. After fermentation, the wine rests in stainless steel for approximately seven months before bottling with no fining, no filtration, and no added sulfites.

The result is a pale-to-medium ruby wine with more transparency than its grape's reputation might suggest. On the nose: violet, fresh red fruit, and a distinct herbal note of thyme. The palate is juicy and light-footed, with sour cherry, ripe plum, a fine thread of black pepper, and a saline, clean finish. Acidity is high and alcohol sits at just 11%, keeping this nimble and food-friendly.

Bobal is one of Spain's most planted red varieties but has long been overlooked in favor of Tempranillo and Garnacha. Partida Creus treats it as a serious single-varietal wine from an obscure, historically significant terroir. The wine falls outside the Penedès DO framework precisely because the fruit is sourced from Cuenca, but it is vinified and bottled at the Bonastre estate.