Corpinnat: An Aim for distinction

BY: NINA JENSEN

Corpinnat was born out of a desire: A desire to realize the potential of a historic place, free of the stained reputation Cava seems stuck with. The quality leap from top to bottom within Cava is huge, and the lack of more precise geographic designations within Cava DO made it hard for the most serious producers to see themselves within the DO; producers with great ambitions of bringing a sense of place to the category and stricter requirements into Spanish sparkling wines. Even with the creation of the Paraje category and the new subzones in Cava, Corpinnat remained relevant and was ratified in 2017 with 6 producing members spearheaded by Xavier Gramona and Ton Mata. Today, that number has grown to 11 producers among them Torelló and Recaredo –some of the greatest icons.

“Is above anything else an idea. An idea that we can make top sparkling wines in our area” - Xavier

Gramona

The Definition

The word Corpinnat itself is a merger between two concepts: Cor, describing the cradle where the first Spanish sparkling wines were made more than 130 years ago, and Pinnat which is a etymological reference to Penedès itself, which can be traced back to Latin pinna, meaning rock alluding to the rocky soil of Penedès. To create the geographic boundaries of the appellation both the terroir and the historical production was taken into consideration, ending up with a total landmass of 997 square kilometers with just below 23.000ha of vines planted, encapsulating partlyor entirely following regions: Alt Penedès, Alt Camp, Baix Penedès, Garraf, Baix Llobregat and Anoia, counting 46 minicipalities.

The production requirements to be approved for Corpinnat are significantly harsher than for Cava: The grapes must be organic, and hand harvested, the wines estate produced, and it should be composed of minimum 90% historical va -

MEMBERS OF CORPINNAT:

rieties. The winery must pass two annul audits, one of them during harvest time to ensure the stipulations are followed. The minimum aging is 18 months on lees, but vast majority is aged for longer, with 55% of the wines being aged for 30-60months and 28% for longer than 60 months on the lees – numbers that easily surpass Champagne! This is greatly helped by the requirement to all wineries to release minimum one wine aged for 60+ months on lees. Furthermore, by being in Corpinnat, the producer is obligated to live up to a number of sustainable standards touching on subjects such as biodiversity, efficient energies and forest management.

To the members of Corpinnat, the historical part plays a great value to the motivation behind defining Corpinnat. It is clear, that it was an aim for them from the very beginning, to reconnect with something nearly lost. Xavier Gramona: “There are more than 50 countries in the world producing sparkling wines, but most of them are producing young sparkling wines, recognizing that they can hardly compete with Champagnes. It was our luck that phylloxera came 20 years later to Catalunya than Champagne. We started selling still wines to Champagne, but the idea of making quality sparkling wines locally was born. With Corpinnat we wanted to demonstrate, that Cava could also be a longterm wine made with strict requirements. We realized that we can make sparkling wines for aging, because we have some interesting local varietals. Especially Xarel-lo is unique: in 1997 it was concluded by the university in Dijon that it is the most antioxidant grape used for sparkling wine production, and it was later backed up by Washington University, which proved, that it was one of the most antioxidative grapes not only for sparkling wines, but in fact in the world! It means that it will keep very well, even if it has a little lower acidity than what we know from Champagne”.

Gramona – Imported by Philipson Wine

Llopart – Imported by D’Wine

Nadal – Currently looking for an importer

Recaredo – Imported by Philipson Wine

Sabaté I Coca – Imported by Løgismose

Torelló – Imported by Winepoint

Huguet de Can Freixes – Currently looking for an importer

Mas Candi – Imported by Lieu-Dit

Júlia Bernet – Imported by af Fuco Wine Import

Descregut – Imported by Vintage only

Pardas – Unknown if imported

Indigenous varities

(minimum 90%): Xarel. lo, Macabeo, Perellada, Malvasia (Subirat, Parent), Garnacha Tinta, Monastrel, Sumoll and Xarel-lo vermell. Authories varieties: Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Malvasia de Sitges and Trepat

The Result

The noble mission pursued by the present day 11 producers clearly creates a good foundation of a very high bottom level. I had the pleasure of tasting wines from 10 of the producers giving a good snapshot of what the designation means for the end consumer. The picture painted on the tasting was overall very positive. There were several common features between the wines as well as expected differences. I have tried to focus on the common denominators here, in order to outline what Corpinnat is all about taste-wise. The wines were all disgorged in the first half of 2022 and vintage dated from 2014-2018.

Blanc de blancs wines dominate the picture, which was assumed both from the combination of climate-grape as well from the permitted varietals. Xarel-lo is the major star with Macabeo as a close second, and it would be fair to call the trio of Xarel-lo and Macabeo (and Parellada) ‘the classic Corpinnat blend’ as Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Meunier is for Champagne, with the lion’s share of the wines composed by Xarel-lo and Macabeo only. It was striking to notice the common fruit profile in the wine – sure, the fruit condition varied from tart to cooked, but almost all Corpinnats showed a profile of orange, white peach and more pear-like than apple. Many displayed an exotic twist as well. All had some level of lactic creaminess ranging from subtle to very expressed.

Nearly all of them were at a good, mature drinking state – a state they seem to reach well before Champagne. Even if they are far from oxidized, the softer acidity makes more way for the maturity notes to shine through than a higher level of acidity would, resulting in the Corpinnats reaching equilibrium sooner. The tertiary notes were very much in the direction of a dark earthyness and a very distinct cheesy note as a common denominator well – accenturated and more umami toned than most mature champagnes. The tertiary profile of the wines made it difficult for me to distinguish oak use in the wines. Perhaps it takes more tastingpractice of Corpinnats to do, but it dawned on me that if was more difficult than with Champagne. In terms of use in a restaurant the mature features can be great, as we can suddenly present wines with long bottle aging, ready to drink. The question is then: Are the guests ready to drink evolved sparkling wines? Speaking from personal experience of pouring 2010 Celler Batlle Font de Jui (Gramona) on a pairing my answer would be yes, but I do believe it very much depends on the setting.

Brut Nature constitutes a large chunk of the Corpinnat wines produced. I’m not a dosage fanatic by any means –yes, my palette does gravitate towards the lower end of the spectrum, but I consider dosage like seasoning a dish with salt: If it is done correctly, you don’t notice, while if it is under- or overdone you will. Sometimes that means adding nothing, sometimes it means adding a little. For Corpinnat Brut Nature makes great sense. As they start off with lower acidity and more rich fruit, I can see how the richness added by bottle fermentation would be enough to balance the base wines. While the wines tasted were all rounded, the single wine having a Brut dosage level seemed lazy and overly voluminous next to the rest. Some of the wines were marked with Vinya de Muntanya – not an official designation (yet) within Corpinnat, but to signify that the grapes were sourced from higher altitude vinyards. To my palette those wines were recognizable for their fresher fruit profile, firmer acidity and less of the cheesy flavour.

Throughout the tasting, I noticed a curious thing: The stability of the mousse seemed to be weaker than that of aged Champagnes, with the bubbles fading away in the glass sooner after pouring, which I wonder if could relate to pH levels (a subject for another time perhaps)?

Champagne Paradox

Across the board the wines were very balanced and gastronomic. The mellow acidity, creamy texture, full body and fine bubbles in combination with the clear autolytic notes, would make any sommeliers mind full of pairing-ideas. To me, they were more suited to be placed further into the menu rather than as aperitif, underscoring the seriousness of these wines, and with prices starting at 240 dkk for the samples I received, they present a viable option to feature on pairing.

I have continuously compared the wines with Champagne which seems like a paradox, as the wines are very distinguished from precisely Champagne and the whole mission of creating the Corpinnat designation is to craft a new genre within the world of sparkling wines. It is simply because it seems like the easiest way to explain the wines, in the lack of any other frame of reference, but also because that would be the job in restaurants: How is it different to Champagne? Why should we choose this instead?

The wines of Corpinnat are not nervy, mineral nor acidity driven. They don’t have the tension. But they are generous and offer us the opportunity of surprise and a flavour profile unknown to many casual wine drinkers.

Thank you to Corpinnat for providing samples to get a deeper understanding of your mission!