First off, how to pronounce it? In Catalan they say shah-RELL-lo; in Castilian, hah-RELL-lo; in English, zah-RELL-oh. So, you can choose the one that is easiest for you. We usually say shah-RELL-lo.

Xarel•lo has been grown for centuries in the Catalan region of Spain and is one of the three grapes of Cava, the original sparkling wine.

Paradisos del Sol planted the first production of Xarel•lo in the United States in 2014. It had a reputation as an aromatic white with excellent resistance to Powdery Mildew. It is indeed resistant to PM, but it’s pretty boring as table wine on its own.

We donated the 2021 crop to our local college’s wine program. They produced the first Xarel•lo wine in the USA. It promptly won a gold medal and sold out.

Paul laughed at the news of the gold medal, sure that none of the judges had any experience with Xarel•lo as a varietal table wine. It’s pretty bland at this point. Will it get more interesting with age? The local college certainly thinks so!

It has been pretty tasty as a sparkling wine. We are planning to do a commercial-scale experimental production with the 2023 vintage. Wiggly X?