In 2015, Pepe Raventós was riding his motorcycle along mountain roads near the Penedes coast, in an area called Costers del Montmell, when he spotted an abandoned vineyard on a hillside. Before long, he had purchased the property and set out revitalizing the remaining old, bush-trained vines. Raventós, known for making some of Spain’s best sparkling wines at Raventós i Blanc, started making high-elevation, natural still and sparkling wines he calls Can Sumoi.
Serra de L’Home, the property’s old name, dates back to 1645. The estate sits at 300 meters altitude, with calcareous, sandy-loam soils bordered by forest, scrub and olive trees. When I visited in late November 2023, the property seemed to show mostly potential: The vines were slumbering and bare after the harvest, and a decrepit farmhouse testified of work still to be done. Mostly, the land looked parched from years of drought.
That all changed in 2025. The farmhouse, now restored, is occupied and the farm tended full-time. And a generous 714 mm of rain during the season brought the farm to life. The vines showed renewed vigor and produced the Can Sumoi 2025 Xarel-lo, which is now in the United States.
Simply put, this is one of the most compelling white wines I’ve tasted in years. It didn’t announce itself from the glass — rather, it drew me in for a second look and taste, then teased me with a different flavor or aroma at every sip. There was jasmine, acacia, lemongrass, beeswax and ginger, but never all at once and always ephemeral, as if the wine refused to reveal its true nature until I proved worthy. No oak — about 20 percent of the juice was fermented in concrete, lending a sappy, savory texture. There was no hurry to drink it. Each sip lingered on my palate as I tried to decipher its riddle. The wine transformed over three evenings, never quite the same and yet relating a consistent narrative.
I wrote about my visit with Raventós in The Washington Post two years ago, and this reflection on his wines applies also to his Xarel-lo from Can Sumoi:
“Can we taste ancient geologic history in the wines of Raventós i Blanc? That’s up to our imaginations, perhaps, but imagination is an essential part of wine appreciation. These wines could come from nowhere else, interpreted by someone dedicated to conveying the essence of the Earth to our glass, through the vehicle of grapes. We need to be receptive to the message.”
My unicorn pairing with this wine would be the arctic char at Steirereck restaurant in Vienna, Austria. (IYKYK) But I’m sure I could find something worthy of it in Barcelona.
Can Sumoi 2025 Xarel-lo (12.7 percent abv) is imported in the U.S. by Potomac Selections. Retail price should be around $30.
Xarel.lo is a fantastic grape, perfectly suited to the Mediterranean climate and the soils of Alt Penedès. It has great aging potential - I recall a tasting some years ago of 20 year old Xarel.lo wines that blew my mind. It is the backbone of all great Catalonian sparkling wines. It is much like Chardonnay in that it is like a canvas waiting to be painted, like clay ready to be modelled. In the hands of skilled winemakers like Pepe Raventòs, it is can be a masterpiece.
So excited to read this. We just featured this wine with our shop’s wine club and I think people were a bit confused by it. The grape is unfamiliar. The bottle shape is different. But once they tried it, we had converts. It really is unique and lovely.