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Partida Creus

XL Xarel-lo Ancestral NV

Price: $50.00
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Tasting notes

This is Xarel-lo at its most nakedly expressive: the variety's high acidity, faint smokiness, and bitter-citrus finish are front and center with no blending, no disgorgement, and no added sulfites. After 10-plus months on lees in bottle, the bubbles are fine and persistent, and there is a mineral, almost saline quality that reads as distinctly Catalan. It drinks like the anti-Cava Cava.

BodyFruitTanninAcidity
Taste profile
Lemon PeelAlmondFlintPear
  • Style: Dry sparkling white; pet-nat / ancestral method; citrus, smoke, and saline mineral; 13% ABV
  • Grapes & Terroir: 100% Xarel-lo; old vines; clay-limestone soils; Massís de Bonastre, Baix Penedès, Tarragona; organically farmed
  • Winemaking: Direct press; native yeast fermentation in stainless steel; bottled before fermentation completes; minimum 10 months on lees in bottle; no fining, no filtration, zero added sulfites
  • Serving: Serve well-chilled at 44–48°F; invert gently before pouring to integrate lees, or pour carefully for a clearer glass
  • Pairing: Pa amb tomàquet, anchovies, raw oysters, grilled squid, fried whitebait, cured fish
  • Similar To: For fans of pét-nat, col fondo Prosecco, or Champagne Blanc de Blancs who want something more wild and zero-intervention

Partida Creus XL Xarel-lo Ancestral is a pet-nat made from 100% Xarel-lo grown on old vines in the Massís de Bonastre, Baix Penedès, on clay-limestone soils within the province of Tarragona. Xarel-lo is one of Catalunya's most ancient white varieties, first documented in Sitges in 1785, and is best known as the backbone of Cava production. Here it is bottled on its own, without blending, as a single-varietal ancestral-method sparkling wine.

After a direct press, the juice ferments spontaneously in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts. Before fermentation completes, the wine is bottled without fining, filtration, or added sulfites. It continues to ferment in bottle, resting on its fine lees for a minimum of 10 months, developing the fine, luminous bubbles characteristic of the ancestral method. No disgorgement. Zero additions at any stage — what Partida Creus calls their zero-zero approach.

Xarel-lo's thick skins and naturally high polyphenol content give the variety its characteristic structure and acidity. In this format, with extended lees contact, those qualities translate into a textured, mineral sparkling wine with citrus snap, a faint smoky or reductive note, and a slightly bitter finish typical of the variety. The wine carries no DO designation, as Partida Creus operates outside the Penedès appellation rules. Approximately 13% ABV. 750ml.

Works well with pa amb tomàquet, anchovies, and briny olives, where the wine's salinity and citrus acidity are complementary rather than competitive. Good alongside raw shellfish, grilled squid, or any dish with lemon and olive oil. The slight bitterness on the finish holds up to fried foods and cured fish.

Wine details

Dry/Sweet:, Dry
Wine Type:, Sparkling Wine
Wine Style:, Sparkling
Grapes:, Xarel-lo
Farming:, Organic
Vintage:, NV
Alcohol:, 13%
Country:, Spain
Region:, Penedes
Appellation:, Vino de Mesa (no DO)
Bottle Size:, 750ml
Sugar Level:, Zero Added Sugar

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.


Important Compliance Requirements

FedEx and other carriers we might occasionally use can only deliver wine to customers who are 21 years or older. Someone must be at the address to receive the package, carriers don't just drop a package and leave. They must ensure the person receiving the wine is 21 or older.


Re-shipping a Package

If a package is returned to us after three failed delivery attempts, we can only re-ship the wine upon payment of a re-shipping fee, to be determined based on the shipping address and number of bottles. Shipping wine is extremely expensive. We are sorry about this, but we have no other choice. Please make sure there's always someone at the address you enter as your shipping address.

If you'd like to receive a refund for a package that was returned to us after FedEx made three delivery attempts, we can do that but we must keep a $20 refund fee; FedEx charges us a lot of money for returns, unfortunately, I can't stress this enough.


Re-routing a Package

If you'd like to reroute a package after it's been shipped, we can do so for a $20 re-routing fee. We cannot re-route a package across state borders. For any change of address, please contact us as soon as possible, ideally within 1-2 days from placing the order or we cannot guarantee we'll be able to reroute or change your order's shipping address.


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If you'd like to cancel an order after it's been shipped, we can do so upon payment of a small cancellation fee – the amount depends on the size of the order. Carriers charge us a lot of money to recall a package en-route.


Heat/Frost damage

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Placed an order. What next?

1. You will receive an order confirmation email with your order summary.*

2. As soon as your order ships from the warehouse, usually within 2-3 business days, this applies to all shipping rates, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with your tracking information. 2DAY shipping refers to shipping time; we still need 2-3 business days to prepare an order. We need to pick and pack, QA, add printed collateral, and palletize the orders.

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4. The carrier will attempt delivery a maximum of 3 times. After 3 delivery attempts, your package will be sent back to our warehouse.**

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**If delivery is attempted 3 times without success, or if you fail to retrieve your package from the carrier depot by the stated deadline, the shipping fee will not be refunded to the customer.

Returns Policy

If you are not satisfied with your purchase, please contact us at (424) 414-2040 or via e-mail at hello@primalwine.com between 9 am and 5 pm Pacific Standard Time, Monday through Sunday, we would like to understand and try to solve your concerns. We can offer refunds only as store credit.

Producer profile

Partida Creus

Partida Creus was founded in 2001 by Massimo Marchiori and Antonella Gerosa, both architects originally from Piedmont, Italy. The two had moved to Barcelona for work before relocating around 2000 to the remote village of Bonastre in Baix Penedès, in search of a slower-paced life. They began farming fruit and vegetables and, unable to find wines made with the same standards they applied to food, started producing their own. The winery's name comes from the stone crosses historically used by Catalans to demarcate land holdings — Partida Creus refers literally to the plot where the bodega sits.

Their vineyards sit in the Massís de Bonastre at 150 to 200 meters altitude on clay and limestone soils. Partida Creus farms organically, following biodynamic cycles including moon phases, with all vineyard work done manually. They seek out old, low-yielding parcels of indigenous varieties — often abandoned or unwanted by neighbors — including Xarel-lo, Sumoll, Garrut, Trepat, Cartoixa Vermell, and Bobal. In many cases, these vines were considered obsolete and earmarked for removal in favor of more commercially viable grapes. Viticulture follows no synthetic treatments of any kind.

Winemaking at Partida Creus follows a strict zero-zero policy: indigenous yeasts only, no fining, no filtration, and no added sulfites at any stage — a practice they ceased entirely in 2013. Their range is organized around two-letter codes corresponding to the grape variety: XL for Xarel-lo, SM for Sumoll, BB for Bobal, GT for Garrut. The Ancestral bottlings are pet-nats, bottled before fermentation completes and left on lees in bottle for a minimum of 10 months. The winery produces over 100,000 bottles annually across its full range, making it one of the larger natural wine producers in the region.

Wine region

Penedes, Spain

Baix Penedès is the southernmost and warmest sub-zone of the Penedès region in Catalunya, situated in the province of Tarragona between Barcelona and Tarragona city. The region runs from the Mediterranean coastline inland toward the Massís de Bonastre, a limestone and clay upland massif that sits at 150 to 200 meters above sea level, just 5 kilometers from the sea. The Mediterranean climate delivers hot, dry summers and mild winters, with sea breezes moderating daytime temperatures in the coastal zone. Soils in the region are primarily clay and limestone, calcareous and generally low in organic matter, which limits vine vigor and concentrates fruit.

The broader Penedès DO, established in 1960, is internationally recognized as the home of Cava, Spain's traditional-method sparkling wine, with approximately 95% of all Spanish Cava produced in the Penedès. The three principal white varieties authorized for Cava — Xarel-lo, Macabeu, and Parellada — dominate the landscape. Baix Penedès historically specialized in fuller-bodied red wines from indigenous Mediterranean varieties including Garrut, Sumoll, and Trepat, many of which were abandoned after phylloxera in the late 19th century and progressively replaced with Cava whites and international varieties. The village of Bonastre and its surrounding Massís de Bonastre have become a focus for producers working to reverse that trend, rescuing old-vine parcels of forgotten indigenous varieties and farming them organically.

Frequently asked question

We will process and ship your order in 2-3 business days, you will receive a shipping confirmation email with tracking as soon as the Carrier scans the shipping label.

Ground shipping time depends on location, here's a breakdown:

West Coast: 1-2 business days
Midwest: 3-4 business days
East Coast: 5 business days

Process time is not shipping time. Shipping time starts from the days successive to the day of shipping, after the order has been processed.

See here our shipping policy.

Signature on delivery is mandatory for wine deliveries. Please make sure someone is at the shipping address to sign for the package.

If applicable, please consider delivering the package to a business address to ensure someone is available to sign for the package.

We also have the option of delivering the package to a Carrier's store for pickup. Please reach out to us to coordinate.

Carrier will try to delivery a package up to three times before returning the package to us.

See here our shipping policy.

If you miss a delivery and a package gets returned to us we have two options:

1) Reship the package right away: due to the very high cost of shipping and returns, we must charge a re-shipping fee to be determined based on package size and shipping destination.

2) Consolidate the returned package with your next order: this option is free of charge and it's the most popular option.

See here our shipping policy.

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