Which brings me to this week's offering for those of you who weren't there. Clos Lentiscus was the wackiest entry of the night, an organic pink cava made with 100 percent Sumoll, a grape that is endemic to the Penedes but banned under D.O. regulations. It is a tricky grape to work with no doubt, but happily there is someone out there breaking the rules, because treated with care and a little TLC, it does produce very interesting wines reflective of the area in which they are grown.
Lentiscus, for want of a better word, is a bit of a funky wine. In the glass it looks pretty enough, a deep pink colour with a decent mousse. The nose though, is like the inside of a winery at harvest time, a little acrid and musty. Full-on, racy and as, one taster observed, "rather too in your face."
In the mouth, it's another beast altogether, showing a fair amount of sweetness, "cherries" another taster said quite correctly, and indeed lots of other red fruits: raspberries and strawberries, but on the green side rather than oozing ripeness, which gives the cava a fair amount of acidity. But what to do with it? You wouldn't want to produce it at the start of a dinner party and scare your guests away for sure, but paired with a rich beef or lamb stew, my gut feeling says it would sing. Another of our tasters thought lamb, mint and rosemary, which I agree would be nigh on perfect for bringing out Sumoll's vegetal edge.
My words of wine wisdom this week then, folks: get out there and try something funky. You might just like it. Salut!
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