'el Palomar' Single Vineyard Albariño 2021

Since 2003, 'el Palomar' has been made as a single vineyard wine. Adjacent to the Zarate winery, it's just half a hectare of more than a century-old ungrafted Albari̱o on shallow granite soil. The roots drill right down into the rock looking for nutrients, and struggle to yield 44 hectolitres to the hectare. De-stemmed, the hand selected berries are slowly, gently pressed then fermented in a single 22 hectolitre Vosges oak vat. It's 6 months on gross lees and then racked and put back into vat on fine lees for a further 3 months, and malolactic fermentation takes place in vat. 2600 bottles.

With power and precision, this has full on lemon drop streaked with zest and a touch of vanilla richness, puffed rice cereal goldenness is tucked with a green tinge. It has a wonderful satin texture with a fantastic ‘pop’ at the end.