Montsant Blanc, 'Venus de Cartoixa'

Score

94

"The white 2017 Venus de Cartoixà was produced with Cartoixá grapes, the local name for Xarello, from half a hectare of 60-year-old vines in Falset, in the clay and limestone zone, and some grapes from a small plot on granite soils that was regrafted to Cartoixà from the original plot, used for the second time in this wine. The clusters were pressed directly, and the juice fermented slowly in a 600-liter oak barrel and a 190-liter glass demijohn with indigenous yeasts. The wine spent 20 months in oak demi-muid. They didn't use any added sulfur throughout the whole process. The profile is quite different from the 2016; it feels riper and more Mediterranean, with notes of chamomile and dried flowers. The palate is round and gentle, with integrated acidity, more in the style of the 2015. 988 bottles were filled in July 2019."

Score

96

"I loved the 2016 Venus de Cartoixà from the moment I put my nose in the glass. There is a lovely flinty and leesy sensation, and it's faintly reductive, savory (not sweet at all), austere and young, with citrus freshness and an electric, crunchy sensation in the palate. I have compared this to a white from Ganevat in the past, and I also find that here but this time with touches of the mineral whites from Coche-Dury. Go figure! The most Burgundian of the Venus wines. The only vineyard used until 2016 only produces some 900 bottles. But there might more wine in 2017."

Score

93