WINE OF THE WEEK: Celler Alimara Llumí Rosat 2023, Terra Alta, Spain

£13.95, Buy Catalan Wines

This is one of my favourite rosés of the summer. No, change that. Forget summer: Llumí Rosat 2023 is one of my favourite rosés – a wine so full of fruit, flavour, aroma, colour and all-round brio. 

It doesn’t set itself up to be a rarified fine wine or a rosé made for cellaring (with a price tag to match). Its purpose is to be bring unbridled enjoyment, with or without food. And that’s exactly what it does. 

The colour, deep, bright orange-pink, gets it off to a racing start and then it’s straight in with the fruit, the sweetness of mid-summer strawberries and the zing and zest of juicy oranges, taken with a pinch of spice, a hint of tannin, easygoing roundness and a positive, refreshing finish – dry but not too dry.

The grape variety, as for so much good rosé/rosado/rosat, is Grenache (aka Garnacha or, in Catalonia/Catalunya, Garnatxa). The vines are 20 years old, bush-grown and dry-farmed organically and sustainably in soils low in organic matter sitting at 420m in the Mas de Cabrera vineyards near Gandesa, the principal town of the Terra Alta region. The climate is Mediterranean but with a continental influence. 

The people behind Celler Alimara are Andy and Ali Mcleod, who bought the vineyards in 2013 from a local family who had been selling to the Gandesa co-operative. 

I would like to say that Llumí Rosat was my discovery, but I have Paul Courtney, a wine consultant, to thank for alerting me on social media (X) when he saw my rosé round-up in July. 

What makes it all the more of a discovery is that Celler Alimara produces reds and whites, too, and they’re all good and very reasonably priced. I tasted the red Llumí Negre and white Llumí Blanc, both 2021 vintage, the two El Senyal wines, which are a step-up but still modestly priced, and La Xíspa Selecció 2019, a red made only in special years. I recommend them all but, if I can single out one, it's the superb El Senyal Blanc 2024, a Grenache Blanc aged in Burgundian-type oak foudres.

Back to Llumí Rosat 2023. This is a really food-friendly rosé, although also lovely solo. Among especially good pairings were seared tuna steaks and brown shrimps with a green salad; prosciutto, mixed salami (including finocchiona) and chorizo; roast red peppers, tomatoes, aubergines, fennel and shallots; and chicken thighs baked with potatoes, red onion, lemon slices, garlic cloves, green olives and thyme. And I'm sure it would be good with paella – catalan or valenciana. 14.5%. Empty bottle weight: 435g.

Celler Alimara Llumí Rosat 2023, Terra Alta, Catalonia, Spain

£13.95 Buy Catalan Wines

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£13.95, Buy Catalan Wines