Ximenez-Spinola, Slow Fermentation, Pedro Ximenez, 2018

Production

100% white wine from grapes Pedro Ximénez, which is overripe on the vine for 21 days in addition to the conventional harvest. It is collected by hand and transported in boxes of 15 kg. to avoid deterioration in the fruit, already evolved and less compact than fresh grapes, but full of aromatic and sensitive concentrations.

It is ground in a soft pressing press, with yields per ton of fresh grape less than 600 liters of freshly pressed must. Immediately after grinding, it is introduced with its skins into 300-liter French Oak barrels, adding 30 liters every day to each barrel-hence it is called Slow Fermentation-, so that the yeasts finish with all the sugars daily and leave the it came totally dry. This total fermentation is especially difficult in the Pedro Ximénez variety, due to its known ability to maintain residual sugars.

The musts are aged on lees with soft battonage for six months in barrels, reaching a very complex structure. The overripe grape, with its concentration of aromas and flavors, turns out to be extraordinarily expressive and with different manifestations than any other wine, so the low yields per ton and the slowness of the process make sense. The result is an aging wine where the qualities improve each year its evolution in the bottle, which can easily exceed 15 years, with high levels of quality.

Tasting Notes

VISUAL: During the first years of evolution in the bottle, in visual phase it is clean and of an intense gold color with greenish iridescence and glyceric notes when the glass is rotated. Over the years it is important to observe how the hue of the gold intensifies, always being clean.

OLFATIVE: On the nose it is marked by French Oak that is attenuated with notes of raisins and dried plums. Lacks oxidation. There are no stridency, but harmony of all the elements. The natural aromatic characteristics are markedly unique.

TASTE: In the mouth, the non-existent alcoholic sensation is surprising despite its 14%. It is broad and attacks all organoleptic receptors since, from the point of acidity to the aftertaste of wood and ripe fruit, they are persistent and full of fullness.