Espumoso Fugaz 2017 12.5%, Bodega Muchada-Leclapart

Appearance
Slightly hazy mid strawy gold with golden glints and a very gentle mousse.
Nose

Fresh and appealing with notes of orchard fruit like apple and apricot along with hints of flowers with a certain natural rawness underneath of pure Palomino and a faint salty minerality. It smells a little like mosto only more sophisticated than some and very ripe with a trace of sweetness.

Palate

Despite fairly low acidity and that faint hint of sweetness there is a modicum of crispness coming mainly from the fizz (carbonic acid). There is a lot of flavour of ripe apples, possibly pears and quince jelly which is offset by a slightly salty feel, so it starts with a hint of sweetness but finishes dry with a slightly chalky texture. It is quite unusual, but is not lacking charm, or length.

Comments

One might say this super interesting wine is a sparkling wine bottled en rama: without filtration, yes, but without disgorging either, so the lees remain in the wine which may be unsightly but they are adding to the flavour all the time till you drink it. I kept the bottle chilled for nearly two weeks and it was still cloudy, but that just isn't a problem. The wine is best described as half-sparkling, having presumably been bottled half way through the fermentation with no licor de tiraje or dosage used: the "ancestral method". With this process the timing of bottling must be very carefully judged, so it is as well that David Leclepart is a Champagne producer, although this process is not used in Champagne. Personally I feel the wine could be drier if, as they state, they want to express the vineyard character, but it is nonetheless very attractive, and I found myself half way through the bottle just writing this. The word "fugaz" means "fleeting or momentary", perhaps referring to the bubbles, but the wine leaves a more lasting impression. Anyway, it is only the first release so who knows what we have in store?!

Price
27.30, Licores Corredera

Bodegas: Muchada-Leclapart SL

Jerezano Alejandro Muchado Suarez met the pioneer biodynamic Champagne producer David Marcel Léclapart in 2011 when he helped with the harvest. To an architecture student this was an eye opener and he returned the following year. David is the 4^th generation of a small family Champagne business in Trépail in the Montagne de Reims area using traditional and natural methods in their 3 hectares of vineyard. David was impressed when he visited Sanlúcar and since the Jerez and Champagne regions have a great deal in common, particularly soils, and the pair was fascinated by their similarities and differences, they decided on a joint project to produce wines which would demonstrate their own take on the unfortified wines of the Jerez area. Alejandro by now had some experience in wine working with Viticultores Alba.

They work a total of nearly 3 hectares. Alejandro owns old vines in the 1.7 hectare Viña La Platera in the Pago Miraflores which he bought in 2017 and cultivates biodynamically. Some vines here are 60 years old and the youngest 20, all of them Palomino California. They also rent a 0.7 hectare plot in the pago Abulagar near Chipiona planted to 40 year old Moscatel vines. All the vineyards were in a rather poor state and he has been working hard to recuperate them. They rent a small bodega in the Barrio Alto in Sanlúcar and formed their limited company in February 2017. The plan was to show the soils of the vineyards in all their glory.

Vinification is simple. The grapes are hand harvested in the early morning and after pressing are fermented in tanks made of steel, not stainless steel but painted inside with a special ceramic paint, and without refrigeration equipment. Fermentation is kept cool simply by a pair of air conditioning units, and only the absolute minimum of SO2 is added. Barrels are kept full to avoid flor and the wines are bottled unfiltered after brief ageing in old Manzanilla and Amontillado butts as well as other types.

Although their first vintage was 2016, with all the wine vinified in butts, they chose to wait and release the 2017. Their first release was Muchado-Léclapart Univers 2017, made from Palomino Fino and Palomino California from La Platera, but by spring 2018 they had released a total of 6 wines, one sparkling (Fugaz). Production totals over 16,000 bottles – nearly double David’s production of Champagne.

The wines are:

Univers 2017: From the 20 year old Palomino vinified in steel tank

Lumière 2017: From the 60 year old Palomino vinified and aged 9 months in Bordeaux barrels

Elixir 2017: 45%Palomino/55%Moscatel vinified in Bordeaux barrels

Étoile 2017: Old vine Palomino vinified in Manzanilla butts

Vibrations 2016: Palomino vinified on skins and barrel fermented

Fugaz 2016: Sparkling Palomino made by the ancestral method.

Address: Calle Dorantes, 1, 11540 Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz

Website: www.muchada-leclapart.com