Friday 9 June 2017

Las Alegrias Ancestral 2015 11.5%, Alba Viticultores

Appearance
Strawy gold with golden highlights, petillant rather than fully sparkling, legs.
Nose
Very attractive, delicate and refined yet quite complex and frank. Fresh with gentle candied fruit, even traces of aromatic soap, but overall that slight trace of very ripe apple from the Palomino.
Palate
Nicely balanced acidity and gentle fruit following through, there's a trace of salinity and a very slight chalky feel from the albariza along with notes of apple. well rounded. It is very dry, yet very well rounded, interesting - and extremely moreish.
Comments
Judging from the wine's apparent youth, the fact that they can sell every bottle of the few produced (around 1,000) and that "7/16" (the disgorgement date one assumes) is written in the bottle's punt, I am assuming this is from the 2015 vintage. Made from Palomino grapes - or more precisely, Listán Sanluqueña, the original clone - grown on fifty year old vines in the Las Alegrias vineyard in the Pago Carrascal between Chipiona and Sanlúcar. The must spends 10 days or so fermenting in tank with natural local yeasts and the wine is then bottled to complete the fermentation there, with no addition of anything, not even the usual yeast and sugar "licor". The wine then ages for a year or so before disgorgement by hand and as required for sale. It is not filtered in any way, and there will be a very fine, barely noticeable haze, but that's no problem, that haze has flavour. If you worry about the crown cap, don't. Most Champagne is aged with  a crown cap and only gets the cork at disgorgement. 
Price
23.50 euros, Licores Corredera




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