El Helechal 2021

The one white here is the 2021 El Helechal, produced with the rare Rufete Blanco variety believed to have originated in Madeira/Portugal and be the one of the ancestors for the red Rufete. It was cropped (mostly) from a sloped vineyard planted 15 years ago on slate soils in the village of Garcibuey on slate soils. They have been progressively reducing the skin contact (four or five days), looking for a more direct white. The grapes are very juicy, and they need to extract a little more from the skins. It has an expressive nose, balsamic and medicinal, with notes of pollen and chamomile. Rufete Blanco tends to give herbal rather than fruit notes, with volume and clout, with more dry extract than the reds and a tasty, almost salty finish. Curiously enough, the white is the wine with higher alcohol in 2021 (13.8%) because it was harvested a little later, but it has a low pH (3.12) and over seven grams of acidity (it didn't go through malolactic); it's a grape that has to be harvested later than the reds to tame the acidity. They have created a solera from this wine and plan to sell a new "solera" white after 10 days. 1,800 bottles produced. It was bottled in October 2022 after maturing in 500-liter oak barrels.