Reserva Familiar Garnacha Rosé Brut by Sabaté i Coca
The brothers, Marcel and Josep were posing with the newly received prizes, and Marcel’s wife was taking photos. Me too, being a paparazzo, I managed to capture the moment when they were the least serious. I could feel their joy, which did not seem to lose intensity, even though a few days had already passed since the award ceremony.
Premis Vinari is probably the most prestigious wine contest of the Catalan wines. Since about 90% of the sparkling wine production is concentrated in Catalonia, the competition has a special importance in this category. And Sabaté i Coca organic family estate has won the highest accolade of this championship for the second time!
So, to make it clear: all the gold medal winner young, Reserva and Grand Reserva sparkling wines (regardless the appellation, whether it is cava, Classic Penedés, Corpinnat or something else) compete for this prize, and this small family estate has managed to win this award twice!
The photo on the left was taken at the official ceremony, the one on the right is mine.
Best bubbly in 2022
The previous “best of the best” went to Josep Coca 2015, a single vineyard sparkling wine aged for more than 60 months made of Xarel·lo and Macabeu. This is my favourite bubbly from the estate, and call me silly blonde, but I had already been enchanted by the attractive label (it reminds me of a Nina Ricci perfume), and the tasting just reinforced my love at first sight. The current vintage is 2018, see more here.
Best bubbly in 2024
The grand winner of the last edition is the flagship sparkling wine of the estate: Reserva Familia 2014. On the fact sheet here a minimum of 90 months of ageing is stated, though the bottles I encountered were aged for more than 100 months. Old vines, 100% Xarel·lo, obviously hand-picked grapes (manual harvest is obligatory for Corpinnat members) and part of the base wine fermented in chestnut barrel. And amazing, complex, long lasting sparkling wine with shocking freshness despite of the long ageing.
The new beauty
Towards the end of the last year a new, monovarietal rosé sparkling was released: Reserva Familiar Garnacha Brut 2019. Smooth and creamy, charming and lingering–a true queen. As a wine expert friend of mine said, it would make sense to show this wine to a person who comes here for the first time ever, this rosé sparkling will make her or him fall in love with Penedés wine region. It is made of 100% Garnacha (Grenache in French, Garnatxa in Catalan) and the grape comes from one single vineyard, from the plot at the top of Turó del Mosset with calcareous soil and 30-year-old vines. All the base wine was fermented and aged in stainless steel, and though most of the sparkling wines of the estate are Brut Nature (like the two award winners above), this rosé has a dosage of 7 g, Marcel felt it right in this case. The minimum ageing on the lees is 50 months, but you will find bottles with even longer ageing. Only 3275 bottles were made in this vintage. (The fact sheet of this wine is not uploaded yet on the website of the estate.)
Sabaté i Coca sparkling wines are not cavas, but Corpinnat sparkling wines, which means that much stricter rules are applied. Find more information about Corpinnat here.
Visit the paradise
It is more than worth visiting the estate just outside Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, about 40 minutes from Barcelona. The “masia”, the old Catalan rural house is surrounded by vines and a lovely garden. The visit includes a stroll in the museum of the winery and certainly a visit to the fermenting hall and the bottle ageing cellar as well as a tasting of 5 wines (still and sparkling) accompanied by local meat products and cheeses, plus their own olive oil.
Book a visit here
