Micalet - Malvasia, Merseguera&co (23)

Tortosí, Trepadell, Malvasía, Merseguera, Palomino, Verdil | fieldblend afkomstig uit een perceel van 2,5 ha | stokken aangeplant in 1948 | mix van pre-phylloxera stokken en amerikaanse stokken | zanderige bodem met veel steen en calciumcarbonaat, in de vallei van Penya Foradà | whole bunch press | vergisting en rijping in betonnen ei voor 9 maanden | zilt | zuiver | aromatisch | luchtig en puur | heerlijke zachte ronde zuren | een van de meest fraaie Spaanse wijnen op dit moment | karafferen aanbevolen | 1600 flessen

Javi Revert

New wave Spanje! Javi is gevestigd in het achterland van Valencia, Tossal de Angel. Waar de bodem kalkrijk is en waar de grote coöperaties heersen voor bulkwijn met hoge alcoholpercentages op het laaggelegen gebied. Javi heeft met zijn ervaring een paar percelen uitgekozen uit de oude familie vallei (fruit werd verkocht). De vallei ligt op een noord helling, redelijk hoog (650 m) en bestaat uit kalkrijke bodems. Hij werkt er volledig biodynamisch om het maximale uit de mediterrane druivenrassen te zoals: Tortosí, Trepadell, Malvasía, Merseguera, Verdil en Arcos te halen. Ook plant hij hoog gelegen op de helling een nieuwe terraswijngaard aan met Grenache noir en Arcos. Daarnaast een project met zijn goede vriend Victor Marquez in Utiel-Requena waar ze van twee percelen heerlijke pure rode sappige wijnen maken met een mediterrane touch! 

Review

I also tasted the 2022 Micalet white, from an earlier harvest of healthy grapes with more sugar than usual and good acidity, which provoked malolactic fermentation, something that had never happened in this wine before. The wine has a more Mediterranean character, with white fruit, more volume, ripeness and alcohol (13.28%) while keeping the balance. It was a warmer year with more ripeness, a hurried ripening, and there's also the difference with malolactic; but the wine feels quite free and shows the limestone soils quite faithfully. This is a lot more Mediterranean and perhaps true to the place, keeping the freshness, more in the style of a white Valentini. 1,700 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2023. 96/100 Luis Gutiérrez

Javi Revert is one of the most exciting young growers in the Mediterranean zone of Spain. He started in 2016 while working at Celler del Roure, recovering old vines planted by his great grandfather in the village of La Font de la Figuera in Valencia. He then planted some more in the same place, the north-facing side of the highest mountain in the zone. He's working with local Mediterranean varieties and focusing on the vineyards and has planted mostly Arcos and Garnacha. In 2023, he planted a further three hectares of Arcos close to Simeta and has regrafted the plot next to Micalet with vines from there. When all these new plantings come into production, he'll have 12.42 hectares. He makes four wines, three single-vineyard ones and one, Sensal, from different vineyards in the same lieu-dit. Starting in 2028, he should be able to produce some 30,000 bottles. In 2023, he produced half of that. He's also improving the winery with a new underground barrel room to provide better conditions for the aging of the wines. 

I tasted his range from 2021 and 2022, two different vintages. For him, 2021 was a great vintage, similar to 2020 but with some summer rains that prolonged the cycle and provided grapes with more energy and liveliness that translated into austerity and purity in the wines, which are Mediterranean, balanced and ripe but with great finesse and freshness. 2022 was more challenging, with good rain during the winter and spring but marked by hail the 1st of May that lowered yields and resulted in an earlier harvest. That was accentuated by various intense heat waves during the summer. Those circumstances make importance of the place more evident, and the mountain vineyards on white soils allowed him to harvest into September with good balance between ripeness and acidity. These wines have new, more elegant and serious labels. 

Furthermore, 2021 is the first vintage in his new winery, as he was working in 80 square meters before and now he has plenty of space. He also has two full-time employees, as he was doing everything himself before; so each person works four hectares, which for him is a good measure in the Mediterranean, and the improvement in the vineyards is noticeable. He has also started working with plant infusions and has lowered the amount of copper used, and the vines are still very green at harvest time, which was triggered by the 2022 hail.