Skurnik Unfiltered
No reservations required—listening to these conversations feels like you've been invited to pull up a chair and share a glass with some of the most remarkable dinner guests, giving you a level of access that was previously gatekept for those in the know.
Skurnik Unfiltered is a new podcast that curates deep conversations with some of the finest winemakers, distillers, and industry leaders about the world of wines, spirits and hospitality. The show is hosted by Harmon Skurnik, the president of Skurnik Wines & Spirits, a leading importer and distributor of the finest terroir-driven beverages crafted at a human scale.
Episodes are guest-hosted by sommeliers and experts in the subfields of wine, spirits, sake, and other categories.
Skurnik Unfiltered is recorded at Skurnik Wines & Spirits headquarters in the Flatiron District of New York City.
Skurnik Unfiltered
Pepe Raventós
“Can Sumoi, above all, is a project to connect with the farmers in the area, learn from them, pay them a fair amount—the highest possible per kilo of Sumoll or Xarel-lo or Macabeu. I dream of a Penedès where the valleys and the villages and the crus are the protagonists. It's the Burgundy vision for Penedès.” – Pepe Raventós
Pepe Raventós is the renowned winemaker and owner of Can Sumoi, Raventós i Blanc, and his eponymous brand, Vins Pepe Raventós, which produces Mas del Serral.
In this episode, he shares his family history in the northern Penedès for 21 generations and the unique climate, geography, and millennia of viticultural history that make the region worthy of worldwide acclaim. His focus today is sharpened on making world-class Xarel-lo and Sumoll with Can Sumoi, his remote project in the poorest and most neglected part of Spain, where farming is done respectfully and farmers are paid what they deserve.
Can Sumoi, above all, is a project to connect with the farmers in the area, learn from them, pay them a fair amount—the highest possible per kilo of Sumoll or Xarel-lo or Macabeu. I dream of a Penedès. Where the valleys and the villages and the crus are the protagonists. It’s the Burgundy vision for Penedès.
Harmon Skurnik:Hey, it's Harmon Skurnik here. And I'm here with Matt Wolfe, who is our Iberian Specialist. For those of you who don't know, Iberia is the peninsula that houses Spain and Portugal. Is that correct?
Matt Wolfe:That's correct, Harmon. How are you? Good to see you.
Harmon Skurnik:Not everybody knows what Iberia is.
Matt Wolfe:I know. It's true, it's true. Oftentimes when people ask what I do and I say I work with Iberian wine, they're like, I've never had Iberian wine. And I'm like, no, you have. This isn't Siberia. This is Iberia.
Harmon Skurnik:So you, had the pleasure of interviewing Pepe Raventós, the proprietor of Raventós i Blanc and other properties as well. How did it go?
Matt Wolfe:I mean, it's great. I think you'll hear this when you listen to the podcast that that Pepe is one of the most natural and charming, not only men, but farmers that I've ever really interacted with. And, we really kind of established a flow state of just engaging with one another and talking about his successes, but also talking about his vision for the future and the imprint that he's made specifically on the very historic estate. So it was great. We got to taste some really exciting wine, and I'm really I'm really excited to finally bring this conversation to the people.
Harmon Skurnik:When we say historical, I mean, he goes back centuries, to the origin of Cava, right?
Matt Wolfe:Yeah. I mean, the Raventos i Blanc estate has been in the same area farming these grapes since the end of the 15th century. And has fundamentally been responsible for not only the development and invention of Spanish méthode champenoise wine, but also the development of the Cava D.O., and then famously or infamously, kind of whichever way you look at it, the estate now lies in a very distinct, unique style by the name of Cordoniu, the region where their vineyards lie on a kind of ancient maritime limestone. And it's just a very singular, exciting expression of not only sparkling, but still wines from the northeast of Spain.
Harmon Skurnik:And one of the best things about Pepe is Pepe. He is an incredible human being. We've worked with them—with him and his family—for over 20 years, I believe. Yeah. Really, one of the first Spanish properties we imported. And he loves New York. He and his family have lived in New York for years at a time. He's a gregarious and lovable human being.
Harmon Skurnik:Yeah, he's very enigmatic. And I think the other day we were walking down the street after a wine dinner, and somebody actually thought he was Pedro Pascal, which he handled very well. And I think he kind of said something like, “No, no, no, no, I could never be as handsome as Pedro Pascal.” And, it's certainly not the case. 3 But we're so lucky to have not only him in New York, but the wines at Skurnik and I may be biased, but I truly think that they're the most important sparkling wine brand that that we represent globally. Quite a statement.
Matt Wolfe:Yeah. And I couldn't be happier to not only be able to spend more time with him in person in New York and get to know him as a person and as a friend, but also to really, you know, expand his his footprint in the city because the things that he was really focusing on, you know, ten years ago or so when I met him last lived here, he really, really did a great job of cementing the Raventós i Blanc brand and this kind of undeniable quality understanding of Spanish sparkling wine. And now we're here to talk about Mas del Serral and Vins Pepe Raventós and Can Sumoi and—
Harmon Skurnik:Let's not give away all of the exciting discussion that you had with him. Let's tune in and listen.
Matt Wolfe:Let's tune in. Welcome, everyone. We are here with our good friend Pepe Raventós at the offices of Skurnik. Really, really happy to have Pepe here today. He's, El Rey del Norte de Penedès, the man and the talent behind what is now Raventós i Blanc, which is an incredible sparkling wine estate in Conca del Riu Anoia in the northern Penedès alongside Can Sumoi, which is his mountaintop, minimally intervened winemaking facility in the western area.
Pepe Raventós:Southwestern area, yes.
Matt Wolfe:Southwestern mountains of the area, alongside the incomparable product of Mas del Serral and the incredibly finite but remarkably elegant expressions of still wines that you produce from your Raventos i Blanc winery, as well. So we're here. We're happy to welcome Pepe. How are you?
Pepe Raventós:Thank you very much, Lobo. This is the most generous intro I've ever had.
Matt Wolfe:I mean, you deserve it. First, I wanted to ask you questions really about Conca del Riu Anoia. So for our listeners, I think it's important to understand that, Pepe and his and his family have been making wine in the Penedès region in the Penedès Valley of northeastern Spain since the late 1400s. At least that's the documents that you showed me when we visited the estate. And kind of famously, I think it was your great, great great grandfather who went to Champagne and did detailed kind of exploration of not only méthode champenoise, but also Chardonnay and the soil type, and then brought that concept both scientifically and logistically to Penedès inventing Cava.
Pepe Raventós:Exactly, exactly. Very briefly. To touch on the history. Yes. We are an extremely traditional family linked to the Valley of the River Anoia, to the northern Penedès for more than 21 generations. Yes. In 1870 Raventós Fatjó made the first Spanish xampany, after several trips to the North of France. And the greatest of his vision is that he used the grape Xarel-lo to make these most, beautiful, mineral, delicate, honest, sparkling wines with the most serious method at the time. His son created the Xarel-lo – Parellada – Macabeo trilogy. That’s Raventós Domènech in 1890s. And then, the region had a boom. Because every time there was a World war, Champagne was blocked by the entrance of the Germans. And, you've seen the movies. Is it like all these areas where the soldiers are passing a hard time. So when the Americans wanted to celebrate, they would call my grandfather and say, “Can I have a palette of your beautiful sparkling wine?” And he created a brand, my great great great grandfather Raventós Domènech created a brand called Cordoniu in 1928. And every time the the Americans wanted to celebrate, they called him. And then, the world stabilized. Hopefully it will happen again. Now, it seems that we're, in a little bit of a crazy—días locos—and to finish the story, my grandfather, founded the Cava Appellation when Champagne people said, “If it's not made in Champagne, you you cannot call it Champagne.” We used to call it Xampany with an X at that time. Sadly, my grandfather passed away in 1986. Freixenet took the lead. Produced a shit ton of disastrous sparkling wine. Destroyed the reputation of the territory. But then I moved to America, and I learned, Pepe, don't hate the players—change the game. And we decided to declassify from Cava—that was a kind of a disruptive move because we're the family linked to Cava etc.—and start the Conca del Riu Anoia dream. So to answer your question, sorry, it's been a bit of a long answer. I will try to be more precise in the next ones, but Conca del Riu Anoia symbolizes the dream of making high-end, mineral-driven sparkling wines at the same level of Champagne, just in another region, with another climate, with another terroir, with another tradition. Not better, not worse, just different.
Matt Wolfe:Yes. And I think it's obvious in the wines. So just to recap, it's quite fascinating that your family quite literally invented Cava and then through a disastrous line of events which might be more politicized or whatever we want to talk about, you now have dissociated into Conca del Riu Anoia, which is so important because what I do all day long is tell people it is not Cava! Yes, it is méthode champenoise, champagne methode, pardon me, indigenous grape varieties to Penedès, which a lot of people are utilizing, but you have made the move to your own appellation. And I think what I'm more curious to hear about is what sets you apart from the other famous or infamous winemakers who have also left the cava appellation and joined groups like Corpinnat and Classic Penedès. What separates Conca del Riu Anoia from those two groups?
Pepe Raventós:I think we have more things that unite us than separate us, which is the the strong belief of our terroir. But we did not join Classic Penedès because of the idea. The idea of Classic Penedès is more linked to Crémant de Bourgogne, Crémant d’Alsace. It's like a Crémant, a sparkling wine of a still wine appellation. There was a Corpinnat created. We didn't accept the invitation because our vision since 2012 is different than a group of brands that create a collective brand, which is great, with great winemaking skills and requisites and great people. But I think the region deserves an appellation, an official appellation, and this is really what we work for. This is the idea of Conca del Riu Anoia, and this is what I bring to work every week. We need the official government, we need the producers, and we need the farmers. These are the three pillars of this new appellation. And, I don't know when, but I think this is going to happen.
Matt Wolfe:Oh, so you will welcome other producers into the appellation?
Pepe Raventós:It's not that—we don't have to welcome anybody. It's just that I keep talking to farmers, I keep talking to producers. And more importantly, I keep convincing the Catalan government that we need to put the efforts together to create an association to make an appellation like Barolo. Where the valleys first, the villages second, and the crus are the protagonists. And then, of course, the producers. We have to do our homework no? Burgundy inspired, if you will. Conca del Riu Anoia is one of the valleys with seven villages and amazing vineyards, but there are many other bodies and we need to put all this effort together and create the Burgundy of sparkling wine.
Matt Wolfe:Yes. Which I think you do quite a good job with, mainly because, and correct me if I'm wrong, but many years of research working with the University of Barcelona or another school to detail your soil compositions primarily in Conca del Riu Anoia, that are maritime fossilized limestone, which is remarkably unique compared to the soil patterns that most Spanish sparkling wine grapes are grown through, and the the wines that you produce from these areas are some of the most mineral-rich, remarkably elegant expressions of sparkling wine produced on the planet, so it's exciting to see everything come to fruition, as I imagine is exciting for yourself as well.
Pepe Raventós:This is, I think, the most important message I would like to share with you today, my dear friend Matt. There are three things to understand the huge potential of the territory of the Valley of the River Anoia and the subsequent valleys in northern Penedès. First is the climate. We are in a climate of viticulture. A vine is like an olive tree, like an almond tree. It belongs naturally to our area. It's so easy to farm in an organic, respectful, detailed way. Plenty of old vineyards still survive, farmed by old, gentlemen, old farmers, yielding three tons a hectare, like, it's a miracle. Second, the soils. We studied with the University of Barcelona to better understand our landscape. We have done a lot of work with friends from the South of France, from Bordeaux, Heron, Olivier Trégoat, etc., to understand the lithology. So this maritime influence is pretty unique, like in Jerez. We were covered by the ocean for 3 million years, the same time that area was covered. So this fossilized limestone, these diatoms, make a distinctiveness. I say always, you like fruity, go for Champagne. But if you like mineral, try Conca del Riu Anoia. So really, really, when we talk in winemaking a lot about minerality, about salinity, about these notes give the opportunity to a [Raventós i Blanc] De la Finca 2020 and you feel the ocean right there. But last and definitely not least, are Xarel-lo and Sumoll. I dream of a Penedès where the valleys and the villages and the crus are the protagonists. I dream of Xarel-lo and Sumoll. We need to simplify the equation. That's when the territory and the soil is the Burgundy vision for Penedès. And Xarel-lo and Sumoll, for people to understand this, they fully ripen—Let's say we want to make a still wine of Xarel-lo, fully ripening at 13-13.5% max, but the pH will be 3.1. And if I harvest at 11% to make a sparkling wine, the page will be 2.9 this, ladies and gentlemen, this is like very northern balanced, very northern equilibrium, but in the Mediterranean climate. That's unique. And the Sumoll is even lower pH. And both are super reductive, meaning they travel through the years and through that through their geography in the most, sustainable, the most, stable way. That's the word. They are super stable grapes. That's why Raventós Fatjó in 1870 it starts to make these with Xarel-lo.
Matt Wolfe:So this is, for lack of a better or for a shorter description, is #BurgundyBalance.
Pepe Raventós:Exactly. You're harvesting at 13% with a pH of 3.0, but you're like 500km south in the Mediterranean shore. And this is a combination of these soils, of this climate, of the winds. And this is why, like, already in the Roman times, 2,000 years ago, the wines from Tarraco, Tarragona, the capital, started in the Pont de Martorell. So now it's Barcelona province, but 2,000 years ago, the Romans much smarter than we are, they already put where we are now in the Valley of the River Anoia in old Penedès. And those wines were super, super reputated, meaning, there is a history, there's a climatology, there's the tradition, and there are these grapes. And we just need to believe in that. Simplify the equation.
Matt Wolfe:So I want to expand more on the fact, because you said Xarel-lo and Sumoll. I think really only the geekiest wine professionals truly understand Xarel-lo and its capacity to not only produce some of the world's most incredible sparkling wines, but also especially in your hands, some of the most thrilling still wines. But talk to us not only about some of the grape varieties, but also let's transition the conversation into Can Sumoi, which is, interestingly, this completely alienated, beautiful mountaintop estate, that you found while you were riding your bike? Is that true?
Pepe Raventós:I like to say Can Sumoi found us. It was an abandoned, beautiful estate up in the mountains of Montmell That's the southwestern part of Penedès, that is the poor Penedès or poorest because all Penedès is to poor. And that's why I'm so happy that we get some attention. And, yeah, it's a place where basically, like, you grow vines or the forest will eat the territory. This estate found us with 20 hectares of old Montònega planted. Montònega is the Parellada of the mountains, it’s the shittiest of the three Cava grapes. High-yielding. Very rustic. Doesn't need much attention, and has a little bit later bud break. That's why people planted in the mountains. And when the producers in the plana have finished harvesting the Macabeus first and the Xarel-los and say, “Okay, now bring me the Parellada and we're going to do the blend.” From an enological perspective, I don't find it very exciting. But for me, an old vineyard is history and is patrimony, is culture. We wanted to save those hectares, and that's why we came up with with the Ancestral Montònega, to make a very delicate Ancestral, which basically is like a Pét Nat with extended contact on the lees, and disgorged, so we make sure that it's clean and beautiful. 10% alcohol is an average of Montònega. Some years could ripen to 10.5%, but not more. It's a very delicate grape. However, Can Sumoi in Catalan means the home of Sumoi.
Matt Wolfe:Yes.
Pepe Raventós:Like Can Lobo is the home of Lobo, or, Can Skurnik is the home of Skurnik. So I felt we are responsible and obliged to try to bring this amazing grape back where it deserves. And because of that, but understanding Cava’s success, people took it away because it's very complicated to farm. It has sensitivity, very sensitive, to botritis. In a warm vineyard, it pacifies. It has high tannins. So anyhow, you have to be really working it in the vineyard. But when it's a good vintage and it's well interpreted, it’s like a beautiful Nebbiolo with acidity. And I think there is a huge potential, thanks to farmers like Joan Batalla Joan Ferrando in the triangle of the resistance—Rodonyà, Montferri, Mas d’Urens—they are 100-plus-year-old bush vines, organic, cultivated. We get wood from there and we replant the terraces in Can Sumoi. We do micro-vinifications from these old vineyards and also we do a younger approach, blended with Garnacha from these younger plantations. So we are in the learning process of bringing Sumoll back to life.
Matt Wolfe:Sure. I've had the pleasure of being at Can Sumoi with you. And I think it's just worth noting that it truly is an alienated mountaintop winery surrounded by forest that Pepe and his team are working extremely hard to not only maintain the biodiversity of the forest through through their work, but also build this new story of Sumoll. And you don't have to worry about a farmer who's two rows next to you spraying with things that you don't agree with, or doing other practices that you think are ridiculous. You just have red deer and wild boar.
Pepe Raventós:Yeah, but thank you. Because, just a quick thing. The farmers are the ones in need for love. More than anybody. And Can Sumoi, above all, is a project to connect with the farmers in the area, learn from them, pay them a fair amount, the highest possible per kilo of Sumoll or Xarel-lo or Macabeu. We're going to talk about this when we launch Muntanya. And really, for me, it's like this is what give me strength to come to New York and support and do the most difficult part of our business that we all know is not winemaking. That is the very easy part compared to distribution. Another thing I wanted to share is that Alfred Ferris, the master of animal traction in Spain, a gentleman from Valencia who has been working in Rioja lately but always has been like our consultant with all our passion in the Raventós i Blanc estate for animal traction, is moving to live in Can Sumoi farm in that old masía with his three mares, his wife, and he wants to be closer to Valencia, where his family is. And so he's bringing the life back, like we are trying to make, but in a very solid way. So the animals and the family are coming back to the farm and the estate is gaining more life, more energy, more humanity.
Matt Wolfe:That’s incredible. In our glasses right now is one of my favorite wines that you make from this estate. I know you talked about Montònega, and I think from the market perspective, it's important to understand that this is, albeit a wine made from a grape that you said has massive yield and is quite rustic and and challenging—to produce this amount of finesse and true indulgence in a 10% dry sparkling wine is, a massive, massive, accomplishment. Alongside, of course, Sumoll and Garnatxa wines, and the still Xarel-lo, and La Rosa 2024. The new rosé, the 2024 is just stunning. So we're very, very excited about what's to come with Can Sumoi. Do you have any little secrets or plans for the future?
Pepe Raventós:I'm very happy that you are also behind La Rosa ‘24. La Rosa, for me, has always been the very first wine for Can Sumoi. It’s a blend of Xarel-lo and Sumoll, and so it symbolizes what we have to do. It's, for me, an opportunity for people that like rosé to drink serious rosé. I will die trying to make a world class rosé from Xarel-lo and Sumoll.
Matt Wolfe:The wines are great. I'd like to move back a little bit more north, and we can bounce off the animal attraction concept here, back to the estate of Raventós i Blanc. And tell us a little bit about the history of Mas del Serral, which, on paper, is—alongside some of the top sparkling wines from maybe our friends at Recaredo—the best sparkling wine produced in Spain, perhaps some of the best wines sparkling wines produced in Europe. So tell us about the project, tell us about the animal traction which we exposed in Can Sumoi, and then we can talk more about the 2014 vintage.
Pepe Raventós:Yeah, well thank you. I think Mas del Serral is a message in a bottle, no? It’s a message in a bottle in the sense to under promise and over deliver. It’s where Xarel-lo can arrive if you believe in it. And this is the essence of Mas del Serral. Really pay attention to that grape in this case, in that plot, that single vineyard, top-faced original topsoil has not been modified for like hundreds of years. And of course, if you have to treat a coster, a sloped vineyard, with maximum respect, there's no better way to do it than with man and animal. So no machine since 2005, 1.9 acres facing the north again on topsoil. Super structured soils, maximum biodiversity, tempered by the forest and the lake. Ten years on the lees.
Matt Wolfe:Ten years on the lees!
Pepe Raventós:Mineral expression. Salty expression. Conca de Riu Anoia expression. And aging capability. That's Mas del Serral, no? But I call it a message in a bottle, and I think it capitalizes all the knowhow of the family. Maybe most important than anyone, is my grandfather who made the wines at the Cordoniu cellar for 40 years, obsessed with quality and everything to do to express the territory. Of course, they were doing a lot of liters, but they also put a lot of attention into detail. And the way that the Raventós i Blanc grape entrance is designed by gravity, that we we press the full cluster, the débourbage also by gravity, the concrete fermentation with the spontaneous yeast—all of this attention to detail I think is in the DNA of the family, if you will. And that's why it's a message in a bottle.
Matt Wolfe:The wines have always kind of blown my mind, with your first vintage in 2007. To be released, yes. And now we're at 2014.
Pepe Raventós:It's coming, the 2014, pushing that message in a bottle to the next level. Yes, with a blend of Xarel-lo and Sumoll from the Clos Petit. Clos Petit is the most intimate part of Clos del Serral, where we harvest about 800 kilos, where we, re-grafted, some old vineyards of Bastard Negre with Sumoll, from the triangle of the resistance. And for some reason, since we work with Texturas de Pedra in 2011, I think Sumoll takes Xarel-lo to an extra layer of aging capability, reduction, under promise and over deliver. So, for the people that love their serious, sparkling with aging capability, mineral expression, I encourage you to pay attention to Clos Petite 2014.
Matt Wolfe:And Clos Petit is a rosé?
Pepe Raventós:Yeah, it's a blend of Xarel-lo and Sumoll, so of course. It's two thirds of Xarel-lo, one third of Sumoll, but Sumoll is a red-skinned grape, so when you put it in the glass, it's a rosé.
Matt Wolfe:How exciting. And this is the first time our market will see Clos Petit.
Pepe Raventós:In any market.
Matt Wolfe:Any market. It's very exciting.
Pepe Raventós:Thank you.
Matt Wolfe:That's very, very exciting. I think maybe this is a great time to swap our glasses here and taste the second wine. One of the things that excites me the most about what you're doing is your eponymous brand, which is Vins Pepe Raventós, which are very small-production still wines made from Xarel-lo and Bastard Negre. And what is our glass right now is Malvasia de Sitges, which is really an indigenous mutation of Malvasia. And you produce these remarkable, remarkable wines from these young vines that I think are so undeniably world class. So tell me a little bit more about how this project began, and then maybe about the lineup and then about this wine in particular. I know, man, it's fucking great.
Pepe Raventós:This is a wine that humbles me, because, first of all, Vins Pepe Raventós is an innovation project, it’s a project of mistakes, it’s a project that was born in 2014, when we moved back to live in the farm and in the garage at home, I say no cars. It's a perfect place to play because it's cold, because it's very clean, because it's new and it's virgin so if the yeasts on the skins of the grape are going to be the agents of fermentation, there’s not going to be contamination of any other yeast. And we started to play without sulfur. That's my passion at that moment. Very strong. I travelled to Pupillin and became friends with Manu and Anne, and of course I learned a lot and took a lot of notes from Pierre Overnoy. And the Xarel-lo blows us away. The 2014 Xarel-lo of Vinya del Noguer, that grows just up the hill from the home. We really fell in love.
Matt Wolfe:So just to subtract, you brought 2014 still Xarel-lo to Pierre Overnoy—
Pepe Raventós:No. I traveled to Jura. I spent a lot of time, maybe like six trips—it's a six hour drive from us—with Pierre to learn about how can you make natural wine that tastes fucking good? And we say, okay, we're gonna try. And because Xarel-lo has such a reductive characteristic, I thought it would give us the chance to do it in Penedès. And with time, you have seen that in Penedès, it's not just us—there are many other producers that are making amazing, natural Xarel-lo. That's how it started then. It's also, because it's very small volumes, it allows me to risk. So for example, we tried a red called Bastard Negre qvevri style, and the last one is this Malvasia. And this wine humbles me because I dream of a Penedès of Xarel-lo and Sumoll. And I say, if I have to make an exception, it would be for the Malvasia de Sitges because this is only six year old vines, this vintage. And man, it's like so reduced and so elegant and so oily and so mineral-driven and so delicious! I planted it to vinify, to acidify naturally, the blanc de blancs. But we dedicated some wines to the family of Vins Pepe to play around with, and it's really, really surprising us. So, this is the why.
Matt Wolfe:I'm constantly obsessed with this wine. I'm so happy that I'm able to to taste and drink this with you today because, not to belabor the point, but, what do you think most thoughtful farmers, most thoughtful winemakers—what are they doing with their vineyards that are five years old? Six years old? Are they even bottling them?
Pepe Raventós:You mean? I'm not sure I understand the question. You mean with Malvasia?
Matt Wolfe:No, in general. Think about the scope. When we think about a thoughtful—let's paint a picture. There's a thoughtful, talented, young, biodynamically-driven farmer. Let's just say he's in Catalan. He planted a brand new vineyard of Cinsault in 2019. I have never experienced a wine of this much tension and concentration and class from a six year old vineyard. So I guess what I'm trying to get at is, what are you doing here? That is that is helping here or what aren't you doing?
Pepe Raventós:We have been lucky first of all, to have Enric Bartra, who is the man behind the salvation of this grape variety in L’hospital de Sitges. He's been cultivating amazing clones of doing a fantastic clone selection of Malvasia de Sitges. And Enric gave us the right wood to replant. And then we've been fortunate to plant it in the right soil, in the right place. It’s true that with Vins Pepe Raventós everything is very respectfully farmed because it's not only organic and biodynamic certified, but it's a 100% animal production project. There is no tractor driving. So I think the work of the soil is critical to give difficult grapes like Malvasia and Sumoll the best fruit possible. Malvasia is really complicated. That's why people took it out. It pushes a lot for the wood. It has a lot of sensibility to humidity. It's very variable. Not only vintage to vintage, but plant to plant. Super low-yielding. So farmers that get paid very little money, they don't work with this grape. So anyhow, different ingredients have happened to be together. We also have been lucky to put it in concrete is so reductive. Concrete goes very well for Malvasia, and then most important, I have people who know their wine and they appreciate what's in the glass.
Matt Wolfe:Yeah. It's a mind-numbing experience. I guess the point I was trying to make is that this, by no means, I think even in a blind tasting setting, would somebody think that this is sourced from a vineyard planted six years ago. It's really tantalizing. What are you excited for most about the future of your of your projects?
Pepe Raventós:Well, you know, I think the answer is simplification. I am excited for understanding better Penedès, for spending more time with the farmers, for being able to succeed in our race to the top to show the world that Xarel-lo and Sumoll, with the exception of the Malvasia de Sitges, can deliver amazing quality wines in our land. I think this idea of giving the protagonism back to the valleys, to the villages, to the vineyards, to the farmers and bringing back to them what they deserve, that's really the motor of the idea.
Matt Wolfe:It's great. The selfless king himself, Pepe Raventós. Pepe, thank you for your time. We know you're a busy man, but it's always a pleasure to pick your brain and share wine with you. And I personally, can't wait to see how your passion and talent continues to influence, not only the wines that you produce and the projects that you run, but also the people that work with you and around you. I think you mold people into being the best versions of themselves. And I think that's something you should be really proud of, as, obviously, you're molding grapes into the best version that they can possibly be as well. So thank you very much. We're very, very lucky and very happy to be a part of your life and a part of your life's work. Let's go have a beer.
Pepe Raventós:Thank you very much, Matt.
Harmon Skurnik:Skurnik Unfiltered is recorded at Skurnik Wines & Spirits headquarters in the Flatiron District of New York City, which is why you might hear some city noises as we go along, like horns honking. If you found the conversation interesting, please consider liking, subscribing, and leaving a review. You can stay up to date on our show and upcoming events by following @skurnikwines on Instagram and visiting our website at skurnik.com.
