Abel Mendoza Malvasía 2021

The neighbouring villages of San Vicente and Labastida are the twin sources of this new French oak-fermented Malvasía Blanca from Abel Mendoza and Maite Fernández. Floral and engaging, with clementine and citrus flavours, good focus and a sheen of vanilla spice. 2023-30

The 2021 Malvasía is the first white I tasted from the collection of 2021 whites, a wine that showcases what's to come from the rest of the 2021 whites: freshness, precision, clarity and symmetry, elegance and subtleness. The wines are extremely young and tender, and all are produced in the same way—fermented in barrel, where it matured with the lees and bâtonnage for some five months. They have not changed much, but they are fine-tuning the barrels and coopers they use and have started using some 500-liter barrels, not only 225-liter ones like in the past. The Malvasía is the lowest in alcohol, 13%, and has incredible freshness, a pH of3.17 and almost six grams of acidity—unheard of parameters for the variety. The wine is delicate and ethereal like never before. 3,858 bottles were filled in April 2022. - Luis Gutiérrez.