Pepe Raventós Bastard Negre 2015, Terrases del Serral Vineyard, Penedès, Spain

2015 was a year defined by extreme contrasts due to the Mediterranean climate. Winter was cold with heavy snowfall on February 4th that left up to 10 cm of snow on some parts of the estate. Spring had a cool start with a night frost on April 9th that caused 5% of the Xarel-lo buds from la Vinya dels Fòssils to freeze as it is a north facing vineyard. All of this combined with just 62 L/m2 of rainfall between January and July, created some extreme conditions for the vegetative development; the varieties that adapted best to these conditions were Xarel-lo, Sumoll and Monastrell. During the agricultural year (from October 2014 to September 2015) we had very little rainfall 375 L/m2 (in 2014 the rainfall was 421 L/m2). Winemaking Notes: Grapes were manually harvested and sorted in the vineyard. Once harvested, the grapes were destemmed and lightly crushed. No additives were used including sulfites and yeast (no pieds de cuve either). The Bastard Negre was fermented in three open top 225-litre barrels (4th and 5th use). During the fermentation process, pump overs and punch downs via pigeage were employed. The temperature was not controlled; instead, the barrels were taken outside to warm when necessary. After de-vatting, two barrels were filled to allow for malolactic fermentation. The wine was bottled on November 20, 2015 and released to market in 2018.