Item Number: 6810 UPC: 8421478750150

Country: Spain
Region: Catalunya Sub Region: Catalunya
Appellation/AVA: Barcelona
Estate Grown Wine: Yes
Vintage: 2011
Grape(s): 45% Macabeu / 35% Xarel-lo / 20% Parellada
Type: Wine - Sparkling
Bottle Size: 750ml Pack: 12
Closure: Cork
Alc by Vol(%): 12
Residual Sugar(g/L): 8.5
Total Acidity: 6.4
pH: 2.96
Viticulture: Practicing Organic
Soil Type: Calcareous
Winemaking Notes: L’Hereu is Raventós 'premier,' the finest symbol of how they like to work complexity in varieties and soils, with Macabeu as the structural base. The grapes are harvested by hand and rapidly delivered to the winery, where they are processed via a gravity flow system. At each stage of the production process the atmosphere is controlled by dry ice. Assemblage is followed by bottle fermentation and aging for at least 15 months in the neck-down position.

Vineyard Practices:Raventós leaves spontaneous plant coverage between the rows of vines to give added biodiversity, fertility and life to the soil. They apply composted manure in the winter. Short pruning is done on the bush, leaving an average of 12 buds per vine. Preventive work on the vines is done in spring involving close observation and green pruning to get rid of suckers, adult leaves and shoots that use up energy and create a damp microclimate. The grapes are not exposed to sunlight to prevent the skins from burning. Minimal use, if necessary, of natural plant protection products, using sulfur salts to prevent oidium and copper salts against mildew. The Lobesia botrana pest is controlled using sexual confusion techniques. Cluster sampling and ripeness controls happen before harvesting. Manual harvesting occurs with small trailers.

About the Raventós i Blanc Estate: The soil on the estate is calcareous and dates from the oldest period of the Penedès valley, some 16 million years ago, when it was still covered by the Mediterranean. The River Anoia has carved out its course, this being the only area of the Penedès region where these soils replete with tropical marine fossils have surfaced.
La Plana: Deep calcareous soils of fluvial and lacustrine origin from the Quaternary period, with a clay-rich loamy texture. Very fresh plots where the vines have everything they need to progress well throughout the growing cycle, allowing the gr apes to reach the optimal level of ripeness and maintain their acidity through to the harvest. Growth vigor is controlled by spontaneous plant cover. Vineyard planted with espalier-trained Xarel·lo vines in 1986 and espalier-trained Macabeo vines in 1990 and 2000, which define the personality of Hereu.
El Viader: El Viader is a plot with a south-easterly orientation. Deep calcareous soils formed in the Quaternary period, with a sand-rich loamy texture over molasse, low in organic matter. Goblet-trained Parellada vines, planted in 1971, give the wine freshness and elegance.
Vines from other Growers: Since 1996, when Raventós was forced to sell part of their estate, they started using the selected plots of other grape-growers. These plots lie along Conca del riu Anoia, in the eastern part of the Penedès region. The soil is calcareous, of fluvial and lacustrine origin from the Quaternary period, with varying textures. These vines are over 40 years old with a balance of the traditional varieties: Macabeu, Xarel·lo and Parellada.