MCF Rare Wine

The Third, Brilliant Vintage of Pepe Raventos' Mas del Serral

A few weeks ago, I got a text from Pepe Raventos.  He was in town with his family, and wanted to come by the shop to say hello.  

In addition to catching up and chatting about family and life, etc., there was another very important reason for his visit - to taste us on the imminently-arriving 2010 Mas del Serral, his 'dream wine' as he calls it. 

It's an absolutely brilliant sparkling wine made entirely from an old-vine, cool-climate plot of co-planted Xarel-lo and Bastardo Negre sitting on Miocene soils, chock full of marine fossils.  It spends 100 months (100!) on the lees.

When he came to show me the initial vintage, the 2007, a few years back, I knew he was on to something really special, and I said as much in my original offer for it (click HERE to read). 

Despite the fact that a $140+ sparkling wine from Catalunya was a hard sell (to put it mildly), I committed to four cases, or twelve (of just 2700 produced) bottles.

It may not sound like a lot, but for Pepe, it was more than he'd possibly hoped for from one single account.  Following my offer, you all made me look very good indeed - we ended up selling 22 cases, effectively cornering the NY market for that initial release. 

So, now that we're Pepe's 'US brand ambassador', as he'll slyly say, I have a reputation to uphold! 

In all seriousness, though, to call this an extraordinary wine almost seems an extraordinary understatement.  The 2007 was rich, nutty and insanely lees-y/complex.  The fabulously linear 2009 was a lot more chiseled and tightly wound (something that Pepe adored in the vintage).  This 2010 is a return to the broad, textured, nutty/waxy, outrageously lees-y complexity of 2007, but with even more depth and breadth. 

Pepe is very happy with it. 

He uses one word to describe the philosophy behind this wine -

Origin

- and, in just three vintages, he's already established Mas del Serral as one of the most uniquely site-expressive wines you'll encounter. 

As his journey with this vineyard, this wine continues, I only anticipate it getting better and more singular...

...if such a thing is even possible to comprehend, that is. 

PEPE RAVENTOS Mas del Serral 2010

You may order by emailing info@mcf-rarewine.com or calling 212.255.8870.

Matt Franco

MCF Rare Wine, Ltd

249 West 13th Street NYC 10011

212.255.8870