Freixenet has a number of interesting brands coming out of Spain that are not Cava from the home base in Penedes. One is Creu de Lavit 2003, made from the Pansa Blanca’ grape (it’s called Xarel-lo in Cava country) and the grape strikes me as the most interesting grape in Cava. On its own in this bottle, it’s pretty cool as well.

The 2003 has a fresh and full nose with light florals (lavender), lime leaf, lime zest, orange zest, lots of green apple, and lemon zest. While fairly short, the wine is round and friendly, with sweet Meyer lemon, a touch of allspice, orange meat, and decent length with a little touch of dried herb at the end. I’m sure it needs to be consumed fresh, but it has real texture from the brief time in oak, but never sacrifices fresh fruit character for the oak texture.