by Patrick Ogle

Raventos' Can Sumoi Ancestral Sumoll 2017  is an approachable pet nat (Pétillant-naturel) made with an rare grape. I tasted peaches, apricots and a bit of red berry in this fine bubbled wine. There is also a  tiny hint of bitterness on the finish and something reminiscent of bruised orchard fruit . This is, despite the exotic description and grape, an accessible wine This  will please fans of pet nats and natural wines but also people with more staid tastes.  

There is a bit of creaminess in this golden-hued vino. For a a pet nat you don't get the funk that some find off putting but you do get a unique and interesting confluence of flavors and sensations. This clearly isn't a Champagne nor is it like other Champagne method wines from Raventos but that is a good thing. The wine is 100 percent Sumoll, uses indigenous yeast and adds no sulfur. It has about the same pressure in the bottle as a Champagne.

Summoll is a rare grape. Depending on the source there are between 200-250 hectares (500ish acres) grown in Penedes, Spain. The grape can produce quality red wines (including this one). It is not surprising that it has been used in Cavas as well. It has a reputation as a difficult grape to work with but the examples I've found have been worth the effort.

Can Sumoi is the new natural wine label from Pepe Raventos and  Francesc Escala. Nearly a thousand acres of land at 600 meters of altitude. They grow
Montonega (a relative of Parellada), Xarel-lo and Sumoll. Find out more HERE.

 It is to be hoped we see more from Can Sumoi.

 by Patrick Ogle

Finca Parera Khronos Penedes sumoll 2015 has a light garnet color, light enough that when you hold the wine up to light you can see a slight cloudiness.

The acidity seemed mild when I first tasted but that notion was erroneous. This wine will confound your first impressions on many levels.  It reminds me of lighter, slightly funky gamay or even some pais wines I've had but those are cop outs. The fruit is cranberry and perhaps sour cherry. It is tart and my first impression of roundness was wrong. The acidity is strong[It is just
unusual  and hard to peg in that it seems subsumed in the fruit.

It is also unusual in that I felt the fruit stood out more than it often does in lighter bodied wines. It is a unique wine. Tannins appear mid palate and then jump up and slap you at the end,not on the first sip, that was all fruit to me. Yet when air gets to this? It opens in other odd ways. You will sense more of the acidity. The fruit is still there. Perhaps as the tannins subside with oxygen the acid jumps up and screams "I am here you asshole!" But the tannins remain strong on the finish.

The evolution with air is unusual. The wine seems to expand as it opens up, become fuller. I felt like the acid and tannins became more obvious after air--which is a bit odd. How many wines seem to become more brawny with air? I feel like I need a chemist to explain this wine to me.

You don't need one though. It is complex AND delicious so you can just drink it.

This will never be wines fans of "The Prisoner" will love though. There is nuance here and expanding flavors, nuances that no big, sweet, simple, high alcohol fruit bomb can match. It is subtle and unique and not in any way off-putting. Gamay/Beaujolais is an easy comparison but this ISN'T that. The vineyard is also certified Biodynamic. I will repeat what I write all the the time; this wine is its own thing. It is sumoll. It is Penedes.

Grapes like sumoll were (and probably still are) being supplanted by "international varietals" like cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Maybe this is changing. A few years back no one was growing godello; now more and more Spanish producers are. Sumoll is a Catalan wine and it is to be hoped winemakers there will expand on the small amount of acreage dedicated to it. At the moment there is less than 250 acres of sumoll growing in Spain. The grape has a reputation as difficult to grow and finicky when making wine.

Finca Parera demonstrate the effort is worth it.