Albet i Noya, El Corral Cremat Brut Nature, , Penedès, Spain 2011

The Catalonian sparkling-wine scene is in full ferment at present, with a huge range of ground-breaking wines finding their way to market -- though a glance at the vintage date on this wine shows that this is a revolution that has been in the making for over a decade now. The wine is pale-gold and fine-beaded. That heady scent of dry grasses, cream, herbs and wild flowers could only come from Xarel-lo, and only from Catalonia, too, with all its Mediterranean distinctiveness. The wine is mouth-filling, dry and structured, as perfumed on the tongue as it is in the glass, and ideally suited not only as a head-turning aperitif but for mealtime use, too.

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