Wine of the week

Alan Nance is seduced by the power of wine to evoke joy both past and present 

Xarel·lo Domaine 2017, Clos Lentiscus

Sant Pere de Ribes, Garraf (outside DO, but member of the international winemaker collective La Renaissance des Appellations [Return to Terroir])

100% Xarel·lo

12.5% ABV

€34.85 from Cuvée3000

This is not the first time that I've selected a wine from Clos Lentiscus as my wine of the week, and given the breadth of their portfolio, and the delights to be found therein, it likely won't be my last. The wine this time is, of course, another special bottle, but my reason for choosing it is also about the occasion and the company in which it was drunk.

When, in 1998, I left London for Barcelona, I never imagined my time there would extend beyond a year or two. Earlier emigrants could have warned me of what might happen. You will fall in love, they would say, and in time, nothing will ever be the same again. Much the same could be said for our journey through wine.

When P and I set out on the road that would lead us to become lasting companions, we both favoured red wines, especially the more robust concoctions that were revered by the likes of Robert Parker. Now, twenty-five years on, she will only drink white or amber wines, and I have fallen in love with an approach to winemaking—any hue will do—that I never imagined existed back then: wines unadorned, rooted in place, borne of respect and love for the land.

The wines of Clos Lentiscus are a perfect example of this. All their vineyard parcels (totalling around 22 ha) are worked according to the principles of biodynamic and regenerative agriculture, while their hands-off approach in the cellar (nothing added, nothing taken away) is one that demands great skill and attention to detail.

In the case of the Xarel·lo Domaine 2017, the grapes come from a single parcel (La Mascarona) that was planted in 1939. After manual harvesting, they spend 24 hours on the skins—hence the striking amber tone in the opening photo—and are then gently pressed, with fermentation and ageing taking place in used French oak barrels, before bottling a year later. No sulfites are added at any point, yet the wine is as clean and pure as one could wish for, a testament to its makers, who might well recoil at my use of such an epithet to describe their stewardship.

Discreet on the nose, the wine explodes on the palate with steely acidity and a mineral fruit twang, its sapid, slightly grippy texture compelling you to take another sip. I found it invigorating.

If you have tasted and enjoyed amber wines from Central Europe (Austria, Slovenia…), then I suspect you will immediately connect with this wine. And if you are a fan of more traditional interpretations of Xarel·lo, then I strongly recommend you check this out so as to experience what else can be drawn from this grape variety.

As for the decision to uncork this particular bottle, it was, as I said, not just for the wine inside but also because of the moment, the company. For here's the thing. In 2006, after eight years of falling in and out of love, P and I held a discreet ceremony in which we declared our trust in the future. Afterwards there was one helluva party in which family and friends ate, drank and danced together, a party that took place outdoors on a finca adjacent to the land that Manel and Nuria of Clos Lentiscus work with wisdom and love.

And so, 19 years to the day, P and I sit together drinking a wine that evokes joy both past and present. We talk and remember, sip and pour, and as the bottle drains, our smiles and tears evolve into gratitude for all that has been shared.

That's the glory of love, sang Big Bill Broonzy. It's also the glory of wine.