91

2021 Bodegas Alonso Stripped Desnudo, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Jerez

( £13.75, 12.5%, Great Wine Co )

Palomino has an undeserved reputation as a neutral grape, a variety that needs the alchemy of the solera system to turn it into something magical in Jerez. But a new generation of winemakers is busy demonstrating that dry, unfortified wines have considerable appeal. Brothers Fran and Fernando Asencio made this “naked” wine with early picked grapes from an organically farmed vineyard on classic, chalky Albarizas soils. Long lees ageing adds some texture to this unfiltered white, which combines aromas of aniseed and wet stones with a palate of lemon and lime. Deliciously refreshing.

BuyDrinking window: 2023-25Similar Wines: £10-15, 90-94, Spain, White, Palomino
95

2017 Verónica Ortega Versión Original, Bierzo

( €22.50, 13.5%, Cuvee 3000, Decantalo )

Spanish retailers appear to be on the 2016 vintage of this wine at the moment, which I haven’t tasted, but this is well worth waiting for and needs more time in bottle in any case. VO used to come from the lower part of the ROC vineyard, but because of the frost in 2017, Verónica Ortega sourced the grapes from an old parcel at 650 metres on slate and sand soils in Villabuena instead. Fermented with 100% whole bunches, it’s an intense, well-structured, very lightly wooded red with notes of fresh tobacco, incense, liquorice and black cherry, impressive focus and the concentration and structure to age further.

BuyDrinking window: 2021-29Similar Wines: €20-25, 95-100, Spain, Red, Mencia, Doña Blanca, Palomino
96

2018 Verónica Ortega Cobrana, Bierzo

( €26.75, 12.5%, Cuvee 3000, Decantalo )

Verónica Ortega worked in Burgundy (at Domaine de la Romance-Conti, no less) before she set up her own winery in Bierzo in 2010. This hauntingly delicate wine isn’t made from Pinot Noir, but it wouldn’t look out of place in a line up from Chambolle-Musigny. Sourced from seven parcels at 750 metres on slate soils, it sees no wood (only amphoras) and is wonderfully poised and balletic. Raspberry, tobacco pouch and wild strawberry flavours are complemented by rose petal aromas and a nip of sinewy tannin. You may have trouble tracking this down right now, although I’m assured that UK agent Vine Trail will have some next spring.

BuyDrinking window: 2020-28Similar Wines: €25-30, 95-100, Spain, Red, Mencia, Doña Banca, Godello, Palomino
93

2019 Verónica Ortega Kinki, Bierzo

( €21.80, 11.2%, Cuvee 3000, Decantalo )

The intriguingly named Kinki is a very unusual Bierzo for several reasons. First, it’s a co-fermenteation of Mencía with Alicante Bouschet and 30% white grapes (Godello, Palomino and Doña Blanca); second it has only 11.2% alcohol; and third it is fermented and aged in a combination of amphoras and larger barrels. Pale, delicate and elegant, with some clove spice from 100% whole bunch fermentation, flavours of watermelon, wild strawberry and pomegranate, racy acidity and a hint of reduction. Bierzo meets the Côte de Beaune.

BuyDrinking window: 2020-25Similar Wines: €20-30, 90-94, Spain, Red, Alicante Bouschet, Mencia, Doña Blanca, Godello, Palomino
91

2019 Verónica Ortega Quite, Bierzo

( €11.90, 13%, Decantalo )

Wonderfully fresh, juicy and appealing, Quite is a reference to Verónica Ortega’s father, the famous bullfighter Rafael Ortega (the term is used when someone lends a helping hand in the bull ring), and is all about perfume and fruit. There’s  good underlying concentration here too – the vines from which it comes are all over 80 years’ old and combine Mencía with Alicante Bouchet, Palomino and Doña Blanca – with notes of violet, raspberry and black cherry, a hint of stony reduction and a bright, mineral-edged finish. Aged in amphora and old wood.

BuyDrinking window: 2020-23Similar Wines: €10-15, 90-94, Spain, Red, Alicante Bouschet, Mencia, Doña Blanca, Palomino