Gramona Celler Batlle 2012

2011 > 94+ puntos

The 2011 Celler Batlle Brut was produced with a blend of 75% Xarel.lo and 25% Macabeo from the Font Jui property of 22.5 hectares. The wine was adjusted (blind by tasting) with 7.2 grams of sugar from the residual sugar and the dosage from an old solera of wines that have some sugar and are part of the Gramona. This matured in bottle with lees, closed with a cork for 122 months. It's more in the style of the 1990s than the wines from the last 20 years, with a little more sugar. 7,100 bottles produced. I had the chance to taste a bottle of 2007 disgorged in 2018, and the wine, which was a lot drier than this 2011, is evolving superbly.

2009 > 95+ puntos

The 2009 Celler Batlle Brut is a blend of 65% Xarello and 35% Macabeo from an atypical vintage when the grapes ripened quite fast and achieve good sugars but didn't burn acidity, so the wines are powerful but retained a lot of freshness. This was adjusted to 5.5 grams of sugar after no less than 106 months in bottles closed with cork. (It's a brut, but a very dry brut. In reality, it could be an extra brut, but the mention is not very often used in Spain.) This has to be one of the finest vintages of this wine, with its great complexity, ripe aromas and nuance with notes of diesel, pollen, beeswax, hay and straw as well as the yeasty notes, toasty and smoky. It has detail and an explosive palate with pungent flavors, followed by a very dry finish that leaves a chalky sensation and a faint bitterness. It's powerful, but it's not heavy and it's not vinous. This is going to make a superb Enoteca in a few years. 5,400 bottles produced. It was disgorged in December 2018.