Únic 2021
A unique thing only happens once, it is ephemeral and does not repeat itself. And it is in this transience that lies its uniqueness. With this unique (Únic) wine we want to build an ephemeral wine that will not be repeated.
A wine that will never be the same again, because we want this new wine to be the summary of the experimental work that is being done from the L’Olivera winery every year. And as no two years are the same, every Únic will be different.
Because we want to share the daily experiences that make us walk every day. Those oak barrels that we like so much but that usually stay in the bowels of the cellar. For this reason, the Únic is a unique experiment, a very limited edition, which in this vintage are just over 600 bottles of this single-variety organic Xarel·lo of minimal intervention as a result of the harvest of 2021, when we decided to experiment with spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts, returning to the acenstres, crushing the grapes with our feet in the vineyard and letting the wine slowly make its own.
Terroir
ORIGIN: Grapes from the Catxassa vineyard, 550 meters high, in Vallbona de les Monges. The plots are characterised by dry stone walls, which delimit the vineyards and maintain soil fertility and water efficiency.
SOIL: Chalky clay soil with variable levels of stoniness and depth.
CLIMATE: The climate is continental Mediterranean, with cold dry winters and hot summers tempered by the soft evening breeze blowing in from the sea that cools the night, particularly during the ripening season. The scarce rainfall is concentrated in autumn and spring (350-450 mm yearly).
Varieties
Xarel·lo (100%)
Vine growing
Organic farming. Manual harvest in boxes of 10-12kg and manual selection of the grapes in the vineyard. Crushed by feet, spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts from the vineyard itself.
Production
2021 vintage: 617 bottles.
Technical sheet
Únic 2021
Characteristics of the 2021 vintage
The 2021 vintage was close to the average of the sub-area, in contrast to the last three years, which had been more heterogeneous. The snowfall in January loaded the depth profile of the soil and this allowed the plant to reach the harvest with moderate water stress, ideal for the final quality of the fruit. A single episode of rain during the harvest allowed us to harvest in very good sanitary conditions. In terms of temperatures, it has been a year with exceptionally high peaks in June, August and September, with a usual average for the rest of the year and with cool nights during September and October, which has allowed a very balanced maturation.
Viticulture and wine processing
Organic dry farming. Manual harvest in boxes of 10-12 kg and selection of grapes in the vineyard. The grapes are crushed with our feet in the vineyard itself, where spontaneous fermentation with wild yeasts begins. The fermentation ends in the cellar, in a stainless steel tank, without temperature control and without additives, in order to achieve a wine with minimal intervention. Fermentation ends once all the sugars have been consumed and that is when the wine is bottled.
Analysis
Alcohol content: 13%
Total acidity: 2.73 g/l (sulphuric acid)
Volatile acidity: 0.54 g/l
Residual sugar: <0.2 g/l (glucose+fructose)
Total sulphur: 47 mg/l
pH: 3.54
Tasting notes
Únic 2021 is a mature Xarel·lo, with a great balance between alcohol and acidity. Fresh, complex and aniseed profile, with an oxidation notes at the end.
Design
The graphic image of Únic is the work of the graphic design studio 131.gd(Pau Llop + Esteve Padilla), who wanted to reflect the experimental and unique character of this wine. A label that plays with simplicity and honesty and uses the typography to make each label unique: the number on each bottle incorporates the image of each one, thus making each bottle one of a kind.