Partida Creus VN Vinel.lo Blanco 2020

VN Vinel.lo Blanco is a field blend of seven white varieties grown organically on calcareous clay soils in the Massís de Bonastre, Baix Penedès, at 150 to 200 meters altitude roughly five kilometers from the Mediterranean coast. The grapes are Xarel-lo, Vinyater, Moscatel, Garnacha Blanca, Parellada, Macabeu, and Parsé. Several of these — including Vinyater — are rare indigenous varieties close to extinction that were never accepted into the official Penedès DO, which is why this wine is labeled Vino de España.

The name references vinel.lo, a traditional low-alcohol Catalan table wine style. Winemaking follows a rolling ferment: each variety is harvested, destemmed, and added to the tank sequentially as it comes in, with one to two days between additions, allowing the native yeasts from each variety to interact and ferment together. After one to three days of skin contact, the wine ferments in stainless steel and rests on lees for two months before bottling. No fining, no filtration, no added sulfur at any stage.

Production is approximately 10,000 liters per year. The wine is dry, light-bodied, and defined by its briny minerality and snapping acidity — nothing here that resembles the sweetness or effervescence of Cava made from the same grapes. Serve well-chilled.