Mas de Mancuso Macabeo 2020

An elegant white from Jorge Nevascues’ 60 year old parcel of Macabeo on the higher slopes above the village of Almonacid de la Sierra. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and then spends over a year in 500L Austrian oak. A complex nose of white pepper, chamomile and stone fruit leads to a waxy, lemony palate that offers lovely weight following some skin maceration and lees work. The freshness of the area is expressed through impressive acidity while the wine’s fine, chalky texture produces a mouth-watering, morish finish. 2024-2026.

The white 2020 Mas de Mancuso Macabeo is aromatic, floral, even citrusy, elegant and fresh with 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.15. It comes from a single plot of vines at some 800 meters in altitude. They first bought grapes from here in 2018 and then finally bought the vineyard, a north-facing plot on slate soils that produces wines that evolve nicely in bottle. They always do some skin contact to extract a bit more from the Macabeo grapes. It matured in two 500-liter barrels for 20 months with the lees, which were not stirred. There is a nice balance between wine and oak, and it's really integrated; he worked a little more reductive, and the wine has a little more freshness. There's austerity, tension and balance here, as well as finesse, elegance and purity. 1,250 bottles were filled in October 2022. It should develop nicely in bottle, but it's approachable from early on. In 2022, they harvested the grapes much earlier to keep the acidity and finished with a sharp white with 11.2% alcohol!