Region
Spain › Valencia › Utiel-Requena
Type
white · traditional · sparkling · brut-nature
Grapes
Macabeo, Chardonnay
Alcohol
12.5%
Volume
750 mL
On lees
over 18 months
Available at
Tasting Notes(1)
3.9
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Unique is the traditional-method sparkling wine of Chozas Carrascal, and the wine the estate planted Macabeo for. It went into the ground in 1992 because, as the family puts it, without it they would not be making cavas with typicity. Chardonnay, by the family's own account the lead grape of their sparkling wines, completes the blend.
The producer has long sold it as Cava Unique. The 2023 is released as a traditional-method sparkling wine with no appellation named.
The grapes are picked early, in the second half of August, between six and nine in the morning. Each variety spends 24 hours on its skins, kept away from oxygen, before a cool fermentation below 18C. Between 15 and 20 percent of the wine then rests for a couple of months in second-use French oak barrels, with the lees stirred twice a week.
The two varieties are blended in mid-December into a base wine under 11.5 percent, and the second fermentation starts in bottle in January. The producer's own sheet asks for at least 15 months on the lees in an underground cellar before disgorgement. The 2023 had more than 18.
No sugar goes in at disgorgement, according to the producer, which makes it a Brut Nature.
