2021 Bodegas Exopto Rioja El Bernate de Exopto, Rioja

To get straight to the point, this single-vineyard white is one of the most exciting white wines we have tasted from Spain. Period. It comes from a vineyard of the same name, a tiny plot of 80-year-old Malvasía Riojana rooted in the highland limestone soils of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. To preserve what Tom calls “the mineral and citric character that this variety can develop in limestone soils of Rioja Alta”, it spends two weeks on skins and ferments with indigenous yeasts in a 950-litre concrete egg, where it also matured for one year before bottling. Coursing with the crispness and quality of the 2021 vintage, it’s a superbly refined, energetic white Rioja with layered, pulpy crystalline fruit and scents of chamomile and hawthorn blossom set against a backbone of citrus-charged energy. A wine to blow any stereotype of white Rioja out of the water. It pairs wonderfully with whole roast fish.