La Planta comes from pure Cava country, in the Penedès region of Catalonia, and a family estate that’s been around since the 18th century, Mas Gomà. It definitely feels like it’s been made with grapes harvested early in the season to keep some decent acidity and freshness and has been made with a blend of the usual suspects, 45% Macabeu, 45% Xarel·lo, and 10% Parellada, before spending two years on the lees and being disgorged. The crisper counterpart to your other bubbles this month, this box should have you covered for all tastes and all your vinous proclivities during the month of August!

We’ve drunk a lot of wine over the past year of operations, but if there are a few that we could drink all day every day, this would be one of them. A red with relatively rich southern fruit, a blend of Carignan and Grenache, but even in mid-August it’s the most velvety and comforting wine there is. Famille Richaud is an offshoot of Domaine Richaud, which was founded several decades back by Marcel Richaud as a pioneering force in the Côtes-du-Rhône region of France; this new venture is led by his kids, Claire and Thomas, and these are among the first of their bottles to be released. Alongside the velvet, there’s some violet, very light bubble-gum and spice, but nothing jumps out more than the rest; it’s hugely balanced and light in the mouth.

A new project between friends of friends here in Barcelona, with grapes from the mountainous area of the Penedès—100% Macabeu that’s been lightly macerated, with fermentation in inox. Their first two wines (their Blanc, plus a red made of Trepat) were only released in June, but the group’s oenologist, Òscar Navas Capilla, has already worked with 4 Kilos in Mallorca, started his own project, La Furtiva, as well as another winemaking project with two friends. He also searches out wines left by the wayside in cellars across Catalonia, buys them, bottles them, and distributes them, giving value to regional traditions. For this particular bottle, think of a very balanced banana split, with a little bit of creaminess down the bottom of the palate (and some acidity up top), but very fine and very refreshing.

Kind of the Bob Dylan of the Spanish wine world, Fernando Angulo skipped an award ceremony in 2017 for best newcomer wine (because he thinks the growers should get more of the credit instead). He’s led something of a renaissance in the south of Spain, working with the local Palominio grape and rediscovering the region’s history of sparkling wine, while also travelling to Champagne to study the soil and grapes and building an unlikely sounding Sherry-Champange alliance with legendary French winemaker Anselme Selosse. With a ton of quality and ingenuity behind him, there’s also a certain insouciance—and a good chance that your bottle features a label reading 375ml instead of 700ml, and marking the year as 2018 instead of 2017. Well, it happens. In any case, this is a mix of Palomino, Tempranillo, and Moscatel with an elegant bubble, flavours of caramel, and a touch of brett.

Peaches and cream and a table of people in a collective state of rapture—is the main reaction we had to Valdisole’s Gaia, and we hope it’s yours too. Made with 100% Malvasia di Candia that’s been macerated for two weeks and aged for seven months in inox, presumably with some malolactic fermentation to give it that creamy, yogurty feel all around the mouth. The grape itself is mostly grown in central Italy, but this version comes from the Piemonte to the north, where the producers, Giuseppe Amato and Kyriaki Kalimeri, have actively declassified themselves from the local appellation to free up in their work in the cellar and to continue making natural wines the way they see fit. As such, they’re not actually allowed to record the name of the grape on the label, but they clearly know their way around it.

It’s almost a year since we first featured one of Andi’s wines in the club, part of the new generation of German natural winemakers; since then, he’s started working biodynamically as well as low-intervention in the cellar, and he’s added a couple more bottles to his repertoire, including a cider, a skin contact, and this rosé, made from Pinot Noir, Domina, and Dornfelder. The latter two are usually known for their rich tannic structure, but instead Andi’s produced the most balanced rosé for the summer, well delimited in its flavours of raspberry and lemon/citrus fruit, but still with a soft texture and finish. The grapes all received a direct press and were left to ferment on the lees for 10 months before bottling. Pretty much all of his wines are sold out these days, including the two that we’ve previously featured in the club, so we figured we should get hold of this while we can.