Castellroig Reserva Familiar Sabaté i Coca Brut Nature

Which child does a mother love the most? Which one do you choose? It's a bit of a tricky subject, isn't it? Marcel Sabaté finds himself in this complicated situation practically every day, when he has to work with the 18 types of soils that have been found on the Sabaté i Coca estate. ‘I do the wine tastings blind because there are soils that I love more than others; many times they are not the best, but I have faith in them and I know that, in the end, that plot will end up speaking for itself.’ Thus, Marcel Sabaté put all his trust in the soils of the Terroja plot where the dry sparkling Castellroig Reserva Familiar Sabaté i Coca Brut Nature is born.

Terroja was the beginning of everything and it is the key to the house's most special wines. What Marcel Sabaté’s great-grandfather knew he felt, he confirmed after the study and analysis he carried out in the 1990s. There it was revealed that this structured and highly porous soil has a deep calcareous layer that acts like a sponge by retaining nutrients and rainwater. The latter is very important, especially in the Bitlles Valley (50 km south of Barcelona), where the vineyards have to face a Mediterranean climate with dry summers. In the face of this adversity, the vines manage to reach the deepest layers, finding the necessary inputs to withstand the drought.

For some years now, Sabaté i Coca has been one of the wineries that is part of Corpinnat, where the minimum quality requirements are carried out to the letter. One of its maxims is that grape harvests must always be manual (the regulations state it very clearly); and Marcel Sabaté complies with this. In the case of Castellroig Reserva Familiar Sabaté i Coca Brut Nature, the xarel·lo is harvested from old vines, which were planted by Marcel's great-grandfather. The microvinifications of separate plots are another key point in Sabaté i Coca productions. With the Castellroig Reserva Familiar Sabaté i Coca Brut Nature sparkling wine, 30% of the base wine is vinified in chestnut barrels. After aging for three to four months, the wine is bottled and Castellroig Reserva Familiar Sabaté i Coca Brut Nature is aged for a second fermentation. This is where the magic happens, as this sparkling wine will spend a minimum of 80 months in contact with its lees.

Which child is the favourite? Which one would you choose? Maybe there is no answer to this question. You may not know which wine to choose from Castellroig Sabaté i Coca either. It is impossible to choose just one.