Penedès

A finca in the Garraf massif

Of the 455 hectares belonging to Can Ràfols dels Caus in the Massís del Garraf nature park, only about 50 are planted with vines; the rest is forest, scrub and rock. The soils are shallow, loam over dolomitic limestone with up to 40 per cent active lime, and several plots contain marine fossils. Nothing is irrigated, and a breeze off the Mediterranean cools the hot, dry summers.

The Penedès lies between Barcelona and Tarragona and is best known for traditional-method sparkling wine from Xarel·lo, Macabeo and Parellada. Xarel·lo interests us most, because it brings body, a herbal edge and an acidity that carries a wine for years. Clímax, the estate's Brut Nature from Xarel·lo, Macabeo and Chenin Blanc with 30 months on the lees, is presented among our sparkling wines.

What Carlos Esteva planted

In the 1970s Carlos Esteva began turning the old estate, with its Roman and medieval roots, into a winery. Alongside Xarel·lo he planted Chenin Blanc, Viognier, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Touriga Nacional and the Italian crossing Incrocio Manzoni. Since his death in 2023, Jordi Esteve has run the estate, farmed organically and vinified plot by plot.

From single plots

• Xarel·lo Pairal 2022: 70-year-old bush vines in the El Cirerer plot at 260 metres, 40 days of fermentation in 425-litre chestnut casks, then two years in bottle.
• La Calma 2022: pure Chenin Blanc from the plot of the same name, 2.5 hectares at 290 metres facing north-east, which in the hot 2022 vintage yielded about half as much as the year before.
• Montombra Negre 2021: Cariñena and Syrah from slopes with gradients of up to 50 per cent, all worked by hand, 16 months in new French barriques.

For a first purchase we would go for the Xarel·lo Pairal, even though it costs more than twice as much as the Terraprima Blanc from Xarel·lo, Macabeo and Muscat.

Old vintages

Can Ràfols releases some wines only after long bottle ageing. Caus Lubis 2006, pure Merlot from a single vineyard modelled on Pomerol, spent twelve months in barrique and then 16 years in bottle; 5,000 numbered bottles were filled. Of the Gran Caus Rosat 2004, also pure Merlot, 18 hours on the skins and made only from free-run juice, we were able to buy 18 bottles at the estate.