2024 Jose Pariente Verdejo Las Fincas BIO

José Pariente Verdejo is one of the best Verdejo wines from Rueda, and only a limited number of bottles of this Las Fincas (new name formerly known as Fermentado en Barrica) are produced annually. The Las Fincas is an oak-barrel fermented Verdejo. Aging in wood gives the Verdejo a beautiful combination of notes of tobacco and white flowers. The taste is medium-bodied, dry, with good acidity and "bite". It has a good balance between fruit and wood. Delightfully fresh yet with depth and complexity.

Jose Pariente, the winery founded by Victoria Pariente in 1988, is the 'instigator' of producing absolute quality wines in Rueda. This is one of his showpieces. This innovative white wine offers a revealing glimpse into the potential of the Verdejo grape, through rigorous selection of grapes from an old vineyard and vinification in oval concrete tanks. A magnificent wine, displaying unusual depth and complexity among white wines.

The grapes are from old vines located in the most characteristic part of Rueda, on platforms of quartzite pebbles. Pruned in the traditional way, these vines yield a harvest of 4,000 kilos per hectare. The harvest is done by hand, and the grapes are collected in 20-kilo crates, with an initial selection in the field before being transported to the winery. Fermentation takes place in new French oak barrels as well as one-year-old ones from various coopers. This is followed by approximately seven months of bâtonnage, during which the wine is in constant contact with the lees. The wine is then decanted into stainless steel tanks, where it ages for five months before being bottled after clarification and stabilization.