Improvisacio 2024

A white wine defined above all by its mouthfeel: silky, multi-layered, carried by freshness and structure. Despite its low alcohol content, this is no lightweight — it's a wine of intensity, depth and length, demanding yet remarkably easy to drink.

Enric Soler was named Spain's best sommelier in 1997 and in 2004 took over Cal Raspallet, a late-19th-century Catalan farmhouse in Sabanell, a hamlet in the Alt Penedès near Barcelona. It's home to the oldest Xarel·lo vines in the world, planted in 1945 by his grandfather. With barely three hectares under vine and around 10,000 bottles a year, everything here remains hands-on and artisanal. The Mediterranean climate of the Penedès yields white wines of pronounced freshness.

A single-varietal Xarel·lo from biodynamic viticulture, which Enric Soler has practiced since 2005. Grapes are hand-harvested into 15-kilo crates and fermented spontaneously with wild yeasts, with no corrections made to the must. The Improvisacio also receives skin contact and matures micro-oxidatively in large wooden barrels and concrete eggs — an aging process that shapes texture rather than masking fruit.

Pale gold in the glass, with a beautifully balanced nose: earthy, mineral notes lead, followed by citrus, pear and floral hints. On the palate, juicy apple and white blossom over a silky texture. The touch of bitterness on the lingering finish is typical of Xarel·lo and proves wonderfully invigorating.

Made at a micro-winery producing four wines and just over 10,000 bottles a year. Biodynamic farming since 2005, spontaneous fermentation, skin contact and concrete-egg aging show Xarel·lo as a distinctive still wine in its own right.