Last Sunday, I hopped on my bike and took a spin around the Penedès wine region where I live. One of the best perks about being here is that you can just decide to pop into a local winery. In this case Nadal. They mostly churn out awesome sparkling wines under the Corpinnat label (former Cava producer).
The plan wasn't a full tour, just a quick glass or two, but right after the start, I realized It would take longer than that. Seriously, they have a fantastic, huge lineup, and their whole deal is super long aging. I'm talking they even had a sparkling magnum from 1997.
I kicked things off with a still white wine: the Nadal X Col·lecció 2019. It's 100% of the local grape, Xarel·lo. It was nicely evolved and rounded, with classic notes of brioche and ripe white fruit. Honestly, though? It felt a bit flat. It was really missing that zip of acidity I was hoping for.
Next up was a sparkling: Salvatge Brut Nature 2015. This one, mainly Macabeu, was way more up my alley—really interesting and complete. It had great freshness and minerality, but still showed those lovely, complex long-aging notes, plus a slight, pleasantly licoreux hint (definitely from the age!). Super elegant and evolved.
Wine number three was another sparkling, RNG Brut 2016 (Xarel·lo and Parellada). This one was more intense than the last and leaned much more towards the oxidized/sherry-like style. If you dig that kind of deep evolution, it's pretty good, but for me, it was maybe a tad too far compared to the Salvatge. Still, the aged notes were pretty lovely.
Finally, I wrapped things up with a natural sweet wine: Nadal 1510 Botrytis Noble 2003. This is made from Macabeu grapes affected by the "noble rot" fungus (botrytis), and they only make it in select years. This 2003 was seriously alive, fresh, and just plain delicious. I didn't have a ton of time to fully dive in, but it’s a super interesting, complex, and unusual wine, especially for the Penedès area.
All in all, it was a cool experience tasting some of the most iconic wines from this producer. They truly take the aging game to the next level.
by otarusilvestris
4 Comments
Very cool! thanks for sharing.
Corpinnat for me is the best qualité-prix ratio sparkling wines out there.
Gardener got so inspired it even cut the palms on the palm trees. It’s so disgusting how we treat trees in Spain…
Interesting writeup, thank you. I have had a few bottles of their Brut Reserve, Brut Reserve Original, and the Rose and your points seem fairly consistent for me. I often find them a bit fleshy, where they would sing with a bit higher acidity. And I often find them a bit “heavy” or “dense” with the oxidation notes, and they are always a bit musky for me — they remind me of an old church lady perfume.
I’m going to have to look for that Salvatge brut nature, as that sounds more up my alley.