Recaredo presents Enoteca 1999 de Turó d’en Mota

The Recaredo family of winegrowers presents Enoteca 1999 Turó d’en Mota, a Corpinnat made from Xarel·lo grapes and aged for more than 23 years in bottle. With this edition of 150 numbered bottles, Recaredo reaffirms its commitment to quality, terroir sparkling wines that are capable of showcasing the distinctive characteristics of the Penedès region and the varieties that define its identity.

Enoteca 1999 Turó d’en Mota de Recaredo is being released as the winery celebrates the 25th vintage from the Turó d’en Mota vineyard, an iconic plot in the panorama of Catalan viticulture. According to Ton Mata, Recaredo’s managing director and a member of the third generation of the family, the first vintage of Turó d’en Mota de Recaredo was “the result of a fierce non-conformism” and the conviction that the sparkling wines of the Penedès could aspire to be “first-class sparkling wines that would showcase the distinctive characteristics of the region in an unapologetic way”.

1999: the revolution of ideas

In 1999 a new idea was born: Turó d’en Mota de Recaredo was created, the first quality sparkling wine made from 100% Xarel·lo grapes and a bold new champion for single-plot sparkling wines made in the heart of the Penedès region. In a way that had never been seen in the market, Turó d’en Mota was also an advocate for long ageing en rima (in horizontally stacked rows of bottles), one of the traditional techniques that are part of Recaredo’s DNA. From the 1999 vintage, the Recaredo winery produced a total of 2,973 bottles, of which (with an eye to the future) it reserved a batch to make its Turó d’en Mota Enoteca wines.

Celebrating 25 vintages from the Turó d’en Mota vineyard

A quarter of a century has passed since the first vintage of Turó de Mota de Recaredo: 25 years of working with nature, constant observation to interpret its messages, manual harvesting of grapes, vinification and patient ageing in the bottle for decades. To celebrate this quarter of a century of Turó d’en Mota, each year from now on Recaredo will be offering wine lovers an exceptional sparkling wine, aged on the lees for an unprecedented span of time.

“We continue to explore the versatility of Xarel·lo through the compelling lens of long-aged wines of outstanding quality. In this case, the bottles spent over 23 years stacked horizontally, before being manually disgorged at the cool, natural temperature of our cellars,” says Ton Mata.

The Turó d’en Mota vineyard: a true natural heritage feature

Turó d’en Mota is one of the few surviving old vineyards in the Penedès region. Planted in 1940, the Turó d’en Mota vineyard is located in the municipality of Sant Sadurní d’Anoia, on the slopes of the hill from which it takes its name, which is crowned by a lush Mediterranean forest of pines and shrubs.

The vineyard has two distinctive features: soil that contains an abundance of calcareous nodules and a north-eastern exposure that favours a slower growth cycle. The vines are bush-trained (traditional unsupported formation) and the plot covers an area of 0.97 hectares.

“Turó d’en Mota was an old vineyard that had almost been forgotten. At the end of the 1990s we had the opportunity to rediscover it and highlight its value by making the first sparkling wine from 100% Xarel·lo grapes, with a long ageing process that hadn’t been explored until then. Most importantly for us, it was the first single-plot sparkling wine in the whole of Spain… To uproot one of those vines would be to uproot ourselves,” says Ton Mata.

Dubbed the Romanée Conti of the Penedès by Master of Wine Pedro Ballesteros, the Turó d’en Mota vineyard gives its name to a Corpinnat that has managed to position itself as one of the benchmark sparkling wines, earning accolades from leading wine publications such as Guía Peñín (the current 2009 vintage scores 99 points), Guía Proensa (with scores ranging from 97 to 98 points), La Guia de Vins de Catalunya (best wine of Catalonia on two occasions, best sparkling wine in four editions, and best Xarel·lo on one occasion), and Robert Parker Wine Advocate, which awarded Recaredo’s Turó d’en Mota the highest score ever given to a sparkling wine in Spain.

In the words of Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker’s official taster in Spain, “Turó d’en Mota has density, fine tannins and a citrus freshness that makes your mouth water. This is a magnificent white wine that happens to have bubbles… A completely different wine, full of personality and character.”

Celler de Can Roca: the setting for the presentation of the new Corpinnat

For the presentation of the new Corpinnat and the celebration of 25 vintages of Turó d’en Mota, the Recaredo team and family brought together a total of 70 professionals, including sommeliers and members of the national and international press, at El Celler de Can Roca. Under the title “Our Past, Your Future”, El Celler de Can Roca created a 25-course pairing menu for the occasion, serving up a retrospective of its emblematic dishes. This gastronomic offering was accompanied by a vertical tasting of the 25 vintages of Turó d’en Mota de Recaredo. At the end of the tasting, it was time to reveal the best kept secret: the presentation of the new, extremely long-aged brut nature Corpinnat, Enoteca 1999 de Turó d’en Mota, by Ton Mata and Josep Mata, members of the third generation of the Recaredo family.

The vertical tasting began with the Turó d’en Mota 2023 base wine, made from grapes harvested last August, followed by the 11 vintages that are still ageing in Recaredo’s cellars, which will be released in the coming years. In a second part, the gastronomic experience continued with the Turó d’en Mota vintages that have already been released, which will become part of the Enoteca collection once they exceed 23 years of ageing.

This celebration is a prelude to Recaredo’s centenary, which takes as its starting point the first steps taken by Josep Mata Capellades, Recaredo’s founder, in the world of quality sparkling wine.