The Raventós family has been making wine at their estate since 1497. Twenty-one generations sunk their labors into the 90 hectares of soil. Pepe revolutionized the farming at the estate. He left the Cava appellation that his forbears championed in order to push the Raventós winery in its own direction. The estate has an amazing microclimate with forests, a river, and a lake. Pepe encourages ever greater biodiversity around the vineyards and carries out the farming entirely biodynamically. The vineyards are worked by horse. The idea is to form a system wherein the land, plants, animals, and man together make a single agriculture of health and vibrancy.

The Mas del Serral comes from a 1.9 hectare north-facing plot, the Clos del Serral. The 79 year-old vines are planted on limestone. Almost entirely Xarel·lo with a small percentage of Bastard Negre, the vines are gobelet-trained. The harvest is carried out by hand with a careful sorting. The grapes are pressed whole-bunch and fermented in steel and concrete. The wine ages for 11 months in tank, then receives a liqueur de tirage, and is bottled for its second fermentation. After 100 months on the lees, the wine is disgorged.

2014 marks the latest release and continues to be a lovely bright gold with a fine mousse, with aromas of dried grasses and wildflowers. On the palate there are delicious herbal notes and curling, bright acidity, wrapping all about apricots and peaches. The finish is woody and lifted, both savory and compelling. One of our very favorite sparkling wines, we can’t help but reach for this bottle over and over again.