'La Riva' Palomino de flor 'el Majuelo', Pago Macharnudo 2019

The de la Riva Macharnudo Blanco recuperates a great wine based in the 'el Majuelo' vineyard of Pago Macharnudo, a historical wine of el Marco de Jerez which disappeared under Domecq in the 1980s. The soils are Tosca cerrada with a high level of diatomaceous fossils promoting great freshness, at 115m altitude, 18m in from the Atlantic, in a mixed poniente-levante setting. The fruit is hand picked, with individual bunches selected in repeated passes over 2 months, and gains a degree or so of alcohol from an 8 hour soleo. It's then whole bunch pressed (only half the juice is taken). An ambient spontaneous fermentation in bota precedes 10-11 months ageing under a film of flor. It's bottled at 13.5 abv, 5.5 ta, and there are only 400 bottles/year, neither filtered, nor fined. It faithfully reflects the style of structured white wine elaborated under this brand in the past.

Deep, and brilliantly brassy gold; brilliant in mouth too. A biscuit of chalk, straw in flint, deeply textural, spicy with a touch of smoke and whisper of saffron, lanolin, deep, long, and slow. Ripe, but fresh with saline.