Guía Peñin (99/100)
R. Parker (96/100)
There is a big change in the 2015 Celler Batlle Brut Nature, because from this year forward, it's sourced only from the Can Romeu lieu-dit, a two-hectare plot (it was 6.5 hectares, but 4.5 hectares were replanted in 2021) on sandy and gravel soils, the historical zone where Gramona has sourced grapes, looking for more finesse and more ethereal wines. They keep the wine without dósage, and it has a spicy nose of curry and fennel. It's subtle and elegant, with a textured mouthfeel and tiny bubbles. It matured in bottle for no less than 98 months. The autolysis of the lees feels subtle, and there are very fine toast aromas. The bottle I tasted was disgorged one year ago, something they are going to do for this wine and for the Enoteca range, so it has had time to settle. 2015 was the beginning of warmer and drier years, but the wine keeps the freshness, elegance and poise.
Jancis Robinson (18/100)
From a highly respected founder member of the Corpinnat initiative, a single-vineyard wine all sourced from the sandy Can Romeu, the historic source of this famous wine so long-aged in bottle. From 2014 dosage was dramatically reduced, from 10 g/l to a much lower figure. Aged for 9 years on lees under natural cork and hand-riddled and disgorged without freezing. Then came an additional year’s ageing in bottle. Certified biodynamic (Demeter).
Wonderfully unlike common-or-garden Cava. This is the obvious, dense, product of long lees ageing with the personality of the grapes subsumed by the autolysis. Still tight and tense with light yellow-plum notes and a saline note. So complex that it would be a shame to drink this wine as most sparkling wine is, just sipped without a thought. It deserves full attention and could well stand being served with food.