“Perhaps the best vintage of this excellent, young wine.” - Tim Atkin MW, 94 points

If the international export manager of a particular winery were to tell us that the latest release is the best vintage yet, it tends to go in one ear and out the other, but if Enric Soler tell us that “2022 is a great vintage!!” (with 2 exclamation marks), then it goes in one ear and it stays there.

Enric is something of a legend within the Catalonian wine scene, having established the Barcelona Wine Academy in the 1990s, where winemakers from all over Catalonia would show up to share ideas and seek advice. As well as this, he also worked in some of Spain's top restaurants and was crowned Spain's 'champion sommelier' in 1997. He then turned his hand to winemaking in 2004 after his grandfather passed away, leaving him the vineyards he had planted in 1945, and Enric now farms them organically and biodynamically, focusing on just one grape variety, Xarello. When we told another Catalonian winemaker that we were Enric’s UK importer, he was mightily impressed, which he thought best to illustrate by showing us a photograph of his dog, a dachshund, called Enric.

Enric's Xarello ‘Improvisacio’ 2022 is a fabulous rendition of this often-underrated variety and it plays like a clean guitar chord with no clumsy fingers muffling the strings, instead pressing down firmly on the frets: acidity, ripeness, concentration, varietal expression and length. Cool stone fruits, sinewy citrus and stony minerality feature subtly on the palate of this super stylish white. If you need a thumbnail sketch, imagine a Chablis made from Albariño; cool, incisive, electric. The grapes were sourced from an organically-farmed 1.3 hectare vineyard with vines between 45 and 65 years of age. It was fermented and aged for 8 months in Stockinger barrels and concrete eggs and only indigenous yeasts were used. If you like the ‘Louro’ Godello by Rafael Palacios, then this will be right in your wheelhouse. Whatever that means. 5,220 bottles produced. 12.5% alc. Drink now-2030.

Biodynamic/Organic.

Press reviews:

Tim Atkin MW: “Produced from a selection of Xarel·lo from his two main plots, this is Enric's entry-level wine, though it is anything but. Sappy, chalky and expressive, with lemon-zest , fennel, wild herbs and a delicate smokiness. Broad and persistent, with a subtle intensity that lasts far longer than is immediately obvious. Perhaps the best vintage of this excellent, young wine. Drink now-2034.” 94 points

The Wine Advocate:: “The 2022 Improvisació was produced with Xarel.lo grapes from three vineyards ranging from 40 to 60 years of age that total 1.2 hectares on limestone and sandy soils, whose must was fermented in 1,200- and 2,000-litre Stockinger oak vats and concrete eggs with indigenous yeasts where the wine matured for eight to 10 months. It has a clean and fruit-driven nose with notes of white fruit and flowers, a medium-bodied palate with moderate ripeness and alcohol (12.5%), pungent flavors and very good freshness and balance reflected by the parameters (a pH of 3.12 and six grams of acidity). Drink now-2029.” 93 points

Jancis Robinson.com (previous vintage): “At first a little smoky, then like licking the teeth of winter on a morning when the sun rises white and white-breathed and veiled behind a brittle-veined etch of grey-bone-sketched branches against a cold-pearl sky. A mineral wine, if minerals are river-stone pebbles roil-rolled smooth by decades of mountain-fern-drenched headwaters. A mineral wine, if minerals are the crystals of citrine chiselled from lemons petrified in smoky quartz. If you leave it long enough to warm in the glass, you'll find a little kiss of apricot. Pair with a kick-ass attitude, dawn and bare feet on cold stones. Drink now-2032.” 17.5 points

Customer reviews:

”I had a bottle last night - absolutely delicious!!” - Mr. M. G

“Absolutely fantastic.” - Mr S.C.

"Thank you for the prompt delivery of the wine ordered last week. The stand-out was the Improvisacio!" - Mr. D.R.