2020 Zarate El Palomar Single Vineyard Albariño, Galicia

The 2020 El Palomar is an Albariño, and it fermented and matured in a well-seasoned and neutral 2,200-liter French oak vat with lees and without racking until after malolactic, after which it was racked and kept with the fine lees for a further three months. It has 12.9% alcohol and a pH of 3.25 and 6.32 grams of acidity (tartaric). It's fresh and elegant, with great purity and nuance, very expressive and open. It's surprisingly harmonious for such a young wine. I don't remember any young vintage of El Palomar as balanced, open and expressive as this. This is phenomenal. 2,900 bottles were filled in June 2021.

Since 2003, ‘el Palomar’ has been made as a single vineyard wine. Adjacent to the Zarate winery, El Palomar was planted in 1740. It’s just half a hectare of 100-200 yearold ungrafted Albariño vines on shallow granite soil over hard granitic bedrock. 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 10-year-old 22 hectolitre round Seguin Moreau Vosges oak vat. It’s 6 months on gross lees, unracked and unsulphured, then racked and put back into vat on fine lees for a further 3 months, and malolactic fermentation takes place in vat. There is no battonage.