La Pebrella 2023

The new red 2023 Ferrero i Senís La Pebrella was produced with 50% Arcos on sandy soil and 50% old-vine, head-pruned Forcallà in a place with more clay, both rich in limestone, fermented separately with full clusters in their old stone lagar and matured in glass demijohn and tinaja. It has a pale and bright color and is slightly reductive ("Arcos is always reductive," winemaker Paco Senís told me). It's flinty and mineral, but behind that, it has a very expressive nose that is floral and spicy (it has lots of freshly crushed black peppercorn aromas, one of the textbook aromatic descriptors of Arcos), with fine tannins. It was a very dry year that was saved by some rain. The nose is light, fresh and jovial, but the palate is a lot more serious, deeply intense, very spicy, pungent and long, full of energy and light. The wine finished with a moderate 12.39% alcohol, a pH of 3.42 and 4.95 grams of acidity. This is a breakthrough red for Celler del Roure—a wine of finesse and elegance. Bravo! Pebrella is a local herb related to thyme (and oregano?), and they wanted to name the wine after it since it's an important ingredient in the local gastronomy. 4,300 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2024. (Luis Guitérrez)