Celler Pardas "Pur Xarel.lo" '18

Over the years, Celler Pardas has become a favorite, the simple greatness of its wines having won us, and many of you, over. “Pur Xarel.lo” is made of 100% Xarel.lo, a high-acid variety that is one of Spain’s most important, yet, to our continued surprise, hasn’t become more well known in the wine world. It’s a variety often found in Cava, the most famous export of the Penedès region.

Celler Pardas began as a partnership between two friends, Ramon Parera and Jordi Arnan, who found and purchased a very special masía (Catalan farmhouse), surrounded by vineyards and agriculture. They have dedicated themselves to local grapes such as Xarel.lo and Sumoll but also produce other fantastic wines from varieties such as Cabernet Franc, with the goal of showing the maximum expression of each variety. While they haven’t found themselves included in the “cool kids” group of natural wine in the Penedès, these two are as committed as any one in the region to farming organically and producing wines of terroir.

The work starts in the vineyards of Finca Can Comas with Jordi. His farming is impeccable, dry-farmed, no ploughing, and no chemicals or fertilizers. When Ramon takes over in the winery, his goal is to gently treat the grapes to let them express their terroir. Grapes are hand harvested in small crates, no pumps are used, everything flows by gravity. All wines are native ferment, and Pardas uses a mixture of concrete and old oak for fermentation and aging. “Pur Xarel-lo” is the flagship wine of the estate. It shows beautiful aromas of white peach and flowers, with a saline, deeply mineral quality. It’s medium bodied, and with an ABV of just 12%, it’s great with a range of foods—goat cheese, salads, fennel-crusted pork chops or even simply grilled langoustines. Drink it now, but for added complexity, let it age for a few years.