Jean Leon presents the new experimental wine FO-22. A wine made entirely with the recovered ancestral variety Forcada, which the winery planted on its estate in 2020. Certified organic, it is one of the few wines that currently exist made with this variety authorized by the DO Penedès. It is also the eighth in Jean Leon's collection of experimental wines, of which only 3.618 bottles have been produced.
We have worked with the philosophy of the experimental range, which consists of ephemeral and artisanal wines, of very limited production. Only one vintage is made with them and the winemakers Mireia Torres, director of Jean Leon, and Montse Escoté wanted to experiment on this occasion with the forcada, a pre-phylloxera variety with great oenological potential. This variety adapts well to the Penedès and is resistant to drought and high temperatures. All this makes it especially interesting in the current context of climate change.
Forcada, a recovered Penedés variety
A medium grape and small grain, with a long vegetative cycle, this variety produces aromatic and fresh wines, with a markedly Mediterranean profile. Recovered by Familia Torres as part of the ancestral varieties project that it launched in the eighties, Jean Leon has planted it in glass in a 2,7 hectare vineyard with clay soil, called La Serra. It is located in the municipality of Torrelavit and has been grown organically.
The 2022 vintage was marked by drought and high temperatures, which made the harvest one of the earliest in memory. The forcada was harvested by hand on September 13, five weeks later than the chardonnay from the same estate. Once fermented, the wine has remained in contact with its lees for six months in stainless steel tanks. This aging enhances the intensity and aromatic complexity of the variety. The result is an intense wine, which stands out for its white fruit and tropical notes, with a citrus touch. In the mouth, it is voluptuous, fresh and elegant.
FO-22 is the new exponent of Jean Leon's collection of experimental wines, which pays tribute to the most intuitive and determined version of its founder. The other wines in the range are all single varietals, either from native strains (xarel·lo, sumoll and malvasía de Sitges) or from French varieties (chenin blanc, cabernet franc, chenin blanc and petit verdot). Every year, since 2016, the Penedès winery has presented one of these wines to the market, naming them with the initials of the variety and the vintage: X-16, CF-15, SM-16, MS-18, CB-19 , PV-20, GB-21 and its new addition, FO-22.
