El Cabronet

A wine of novelty, humour and seriousness all in one. El Cabronet is produced by Caves Martí Serdà in Sant Miquel d’Olèrdola, D.O. Penedés. It’s a family run winery founded back in 1986. With a long winemaking tradition, it has made traditional wines and cavas up until recently. The addition of new generations to the family business has been a breath of fresh air, creating the new line of wines, Casa Berger (first name of the winery, specialised in bulk wines, back in 1878). Casa Berger comprises a series of wines with a more modern and ground-breaking image. They also team up with other forward thinking winemakers in Penedés such as Democratic Wines who also like to bring a bit a fun to the wine industry. However, they do choose to make top-quality wines that combine tradition and modernity, with the aim of being attractive for younger wine lovers.

Cabronet is 100% cabernet sauvignon which is something a little more unusual for Penedés, it’s not usually a variety found here. From a single farm, Mas Farreny, located in the municipality of Sant Miquel d’Olèrdola, the vines were planted in the 80s. The harvest is carried out at night, and once the grapes arrive at the winery, they ferment at a controlled temperature in stainless steel deposits, where they also go through the malolactic fermentation. Before it is bottled, this wine is aged in 300-litre French oak barrels for 3-4 months.

Tasting notes for this compromise of the following: “Intense ruby red in colour, a bit of a devil and a right pain in the arse.  Its aroma swears like a troopa, with notes of a slacker lying about.  In the mouth, it starts like a loudmouth and has a smooth taste that lasts longer than a guest that doesn’t know when it’s time to go home.  It’s a wine that will go with almost anything from red meat to fish.  You’ll want to down it – we know what you’re like.  Cabronet is a wine that’s perfect to get you going, so enjoy it!  Life is far too short, and then you have to go to Ikea and buy a new wardrobe. Cheers!”. Whilst these are pretty accurate, for us, we also found it to have a slight herbal, rustic edge that was just delicious.

Oh, and a note on the bottle, it’s covered in swear words and insults said amongst the vineyards in Catalan. It also has ‘spin-the-bottle’ instructions on the side for those who can read Catalan!
 The Catalan insult is based on peasantry. Their language, an orphan of political and cultural protection for centuries, owes its continuity to the people, and the nature of their rebutts to the bad luck of the Catalan peasant. It is not surprising therefore that the vineyard, together with the church, is the most inexhaustible source of improper Catalan. “Aixafaterrossos”, “pastafanguer”, “pelacanyes” or “saltamarges”, are some examples of bad words that are born in the field, the most representative space of creation and dissemination of the art of insult. That’s why we wanted to pay homage to the Catalan Nazi returning to its origin: the vineyard. This wine is for those who think that the best way to keep traditions alive is practicing them. Health!

Organic, vegan/veggie.

2017

13%

75cl