The smoky and toasty 2012 Ex Vite Brut comes from a singular vineyard produced in a Brut style with 60% Xarel.lo and 40% Macabeo grapes adjusted to six grams of sugar and disgorged after 96 months with lees in this vintage (the time sur lie depends on the vintage). It has acidity and sugar, a complex nose and a mellow palate. 2,993 bottles produced.

2010 saw snow, which is quite unusual in the zone, but it was a fresh year overall. The 2010 Ex Vite Brut shows that freshness, as well as a slow development and a subtle profile, with shy aromas combining notes of the lees and flowers and spices. It's a blend of 60% Xarello and the rest Macabeo, but the percentage of Xarello has been gradually increased and will be increased even more. It's a brut with "only" five grams of sugar, as the category allows up to 12 grams, but there is enough acidity to come through as nicely balanced. This is kept with the lees in bottle for no less than 96 months. 3,200 bottles produced.

I also tasted the same vintage of the top of the range as I did the previous time, the 2008 Ex Vite Brut, which is also a Gran Reserva and a Cava de Paraje, the new site-specific category. It's a blend of 70% Xarello and 30% Macabeo from their older (and best) organically farmed vineyards in Les Flandes, with vines planted 70 years ago now. Part of the wine aged in oak barrel, so it provided a faint smoky and toasted character. It also matured in bottle for no less than 90 months and was adjusted with a few grams of sugar. I don't think this is generating extra complexity in bottle; it is developed, balsamic and yeasty with a slight bitterness in the finish. I wonder how this would be without the added sugar... I tasted one bottle disgorged in October 2017 from the 3,200 they produced.

The 2006 Ex-Vite Brut, a blend of 60% Xarello and 40% Macabeo, aged in bottle for at least 60 months, and is the prestige cuvee of the house, sold with a metal label in a metal case. It has complex notes of meat broth, chalk, fennel, aniseed, apples and yeasts with a creamy texture from the tiny bubbles, a fine thread of acidity going through the core of the wine and pure, clean and persistent flavors with a mineral finish. This is a great Cava. Drink now-2019. Llopart is one of the names to follow in Cava. Their wines are going from strength to strength. Importer: Jorge Ordonez, Fine Estates from Spain, Dedham, MA; tel. (781) 461-5767