Pepe Raventos 2022 Xarel-lo, Noguer Alt, Penedes

Vintage Notes: The 2022 vintage was extremely dry and warm. After a very dry 2021 vintage, 127 mm of rain fell in the fall, which helped to fill the water reserves in the soils. The winter was dry, with a mild start and ending with frost once spring arrived. This delayed bud break, which was a good thing as there was no cold damage. A wet early spring continued with a period from May to August with only one effective rainfall and 90 hot dry days with 3 heat waves that accelerated the cycle, reduced yields and resulted in a healthy and concentrated harvest.

During the entire agricultural year, the high rainfall was 366 mm (the average for the last 25 years is 500 mm). The average temperature was 15.8 °C (the average for the last 25 years is 15.2 °C).

Winemaking Notes: Manual harvest on September 5th in 15 kg boxes. We made a selection of grapes in the vineyard. Direct entry to presses. Pressing of whole grapes with a 55% yield. Light racking. Spontaneous fermentation with autochthonous yeasts from the vineyard in the Mas’s garage. We controlled the temperature between 18 and 20 °C in a 2,000 liter French oak foudre, 1,000 liter amphora and two 500 L French oak barrels. Fermentations lasted between 15 and 22 days. It was aged for 8 months on its lees where the wine stabilizes slightly and gains volume. We did not stabilize or filter. We bottled on May 5, 2023. We keep the wine in bottle for a minimum of 9 months. We do not use any oenological additives at any stage of the process.