Description
Cava Pere Mata, “L’Ensamblatge” Gran Reserva Brut Nature
We use the word “value” all the time, usually prefaced with superlatives like “unbelievable,” “incredible,” and on rare occasions, “best.” Today is one of those rare occasions, as anyone who’s had the pleasure of tasting one of Pere Mata’s Cavas can attest. This is Champagne-method sparkling wine produced with as much fastidious attention to detail and artisanship as any boutique “grower” Champagne. The $32 price tag attached to Mata’s vintage-dated, no-dosage tour de force, “L’Ensamblatge” is just confounding. I don’t know how else to say it.
There are countless Champagnes costing twice as much that simply can’t compete. That is Mata’s mission, and he achieves it by keeping his operation extremely small (he farms just five hectares of vineyards) and obsessively hands-on. He farms organically, ages his wines on the lees longer than most anyone, vintage-dates everything and lists disgorgement dates on the back labels. It’s a master class in the méthode Champenoise, led by a “mad-scientist” Spaniard whose wines never fail to blow us away. So yes, the biggest megaphone is out today: Get some of this before it’s gone!
Mata I Coloma is the name of Pere Mata’s winery in Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, a small village not far from Barcelona in the heart of Spain’s Penedès DO. Technically, a wine labeled ‘Cava’ can be produced in several different regions, but Penedès, on the northern Mediterranean coast, is its spiritual home. Mata farms just 5 hectares of vineyards organically, doing all work by hand and focusing only on the historic varieties used in Cava: Xarel-lo (cha-RAY-yo), Macabeu, and Parellada. The climate is Mediterranean, the soils a favorable mix of limestone (key in preserving acids), slate, and clay, and Cava sparklers are crafted in the traditional Champagne method. Because of the scale of most Cava production and its favorable pricing, it’s easy to forget that last point.
Mata, as should be obvious, is not about scale, and yet his prices are competitive with countless “industrial” Cavas. Given what a boutique operation this is, it seems too good to be true: everything from harvest to bottle is done by hand, and all his 50% Xarello, 25% Macabeu, and 25% Parellada spend an extended period aging on their lees. Today’s offering, called “L’Ensamblatge,” is a 2012 vintage wine that was disgorged in 2021, which is an incredible length of time to age a Gran Reserva that then enters the market at this price. The blend is 50% Xarello, 25% Macabeu, and 25% Parellada, all three varieties co-fermented in stainless steel and aged briefly in a mix of steel tank and oak barrels before being bottled up for secondary fermentation.
The result is a heady, bready, deeply vinous sparkler with layers to spare. This combination of power and refinement is rare even in Champagne, but as I’ve mentioned in previous offers, Mata cites the great Jacques Selosse as a major influence on his own winemaking. In the glass it’s a deep straw-gold, with aromas of yellow apple, pear, crème fraîche, beeswax, bread crust, chopped hazelnut, and wet stones. The palate is broad and expansive, with great freshness, weight and grip; it makes a big impact while finishing dry and clean. Serve it well-chilled, but not overly so (50-55 degrees best), in open-mouthed Champagne flutes or all-purpose white wine stems. It will make an impressive, palate-enlivening apéritif alongside some classically Spanish nibbles like Ibérico ham, Manchego cheese, or Arbequiña olives. As Champagne alternatives go, it doesn’t get any better!
