Reserva Particular de Recaredo, Spain’s best sparkling wine in Verema Awards
Recaredo Reserva Particular 2004 has been recognised as Spain’s best sparkling wine in the Premios Verema 2015. The sparkling wine was described as “a fantastic wine that combines finesse, complexity, freshness and body”. The prize, which is awarded based on votes cast by 4,000 readers of the blog, was given at the 15th edition of Experiencia Verema Valencia, a well-established event in the world of wine.
Oenologist Ton Mata, a member of the third generation of the Recaredo family, accepted the prize for best sparkling wine, which acknowledged the organic and biodynamic practices applied in Recaredo’s vineyards, the winery’s use of Mediterranean grape varieties, and its focus on long ageing.
Reserva Particular 2004 is made from a blend of two Mediterranean grape varieties: Xarel·lo (33%) and Macabeo (67%), from vines planted between 1950 and 1955 in the Bitlles Valley Highlands of Alt Penedès. It has been aged for a minimum of 108 months in bottles with cork stoppers and disgorged by hand without freezing the neck of the bottle.
A dry summer and rains throughout the rest of the year marked the 2004 vintage, resulting in lower production, but greater expressiveness and quality.
The first bottle of Reserva Particular was put on the market in 1962 to showcase the delicacy and subtle complexity a long-aged sparkling wine can attain. The Mediterranean character of the sparkling wine is shaped by the loamy, calcareous soil in which the vines grow (a mix of sand, silt and clay), and by its exceptional purity and depth.