red grape · rare
Sumoll
Penedès, Catalonia, Spain
Say it
soo·mol
Final -ll is the Catalan palatal lateral /ʎ/; English wine speakers converge on 'soo-MOL'
On the palate
raspberryred cherrypomegranaterosedried herbs
How you spot it blind: electric acidity, pale color, and wild Mediterranean herb lift
The story
First written down · 1797, Catalonia
Pre-phylloxera dominant red of Catalonia, near-extinct by the 1990s; Heretat Mont-Rubí's 2001 single-varietal bottling catalyzed the modern revival, and DO Penedès formally approved it in 2010.
Family tree: HEBEN × unknown
Where it lives
DO Penedès (Catalonia) · DO Pla de Bages (Catalonia) · Canary Islands (as Vijariego Negro)
Shows up as
still redrosésparklingClàssic Penedès