'80-20' Palomino Blanco 2022

An unsulphured skin contact or orange wine from white grapes. 80% of the fruit for this natural expression is drawn from Pago de Forlong (also known as Pago de Bilbaina Bajo) and the 20% balance from Pago de Platalina (aka Pago de Bilbaina Alta). After pressing, 80-20 undergoes a spontaneous fermentation in stainless steel vats. Skins from the pressed PX of the Blanco are added to the fermentation. The PX skins are removed after 25 days of skin contact fermentation, by which time a subtle pinking has been imbued. The wine rests in tank for 4 months and naturally settles so it can be bottle unfiltered and unfined, with no addition of sulphites.

A lustrous, light, dusty pink to look at, and just a touch cloudy. The nose rings out with the chalk of the Albariza, and this is filled with peach pith, musk stick and ruby grapefruit/pomelo. It smells unprotected, but clearly hasn't caught anything. Lighter and more linear that its sister, 80-20 has more saline sea-dash, candied lemon and citrus rind up front, and gains jasmin, honey, and herbal balm. The finish, run by wild white fruit tannin is a tangle, a riot, a thrill. The affect of the skin contact serves to accentuate line in this beauty, rather than blurring it. There is no theft of identity via winemaking, with varietal and terroir characters in full view.