El Quiebro 2018

A new white produced with young-vine Albillo, the 2018 El Quiebro is from a vineyard that was planted in 2013 with a massal selection from Piesdescalzos on brown granite at 700 meters in altitude and pruned in the classical gobelet style. It fermented in used French oak barrels with indigenous yeasts and matured with the lees for 10 months in used 300- and 500-liter barriques and in a 1,500-liter oak foudre. 2018 was a cold and late vintage that has given this Albillo a fruit-driven and floral profile. It has a similar profile to the Picarana, with a little less complexity and depth, primary, young, fresh and expressive. It's only 13% alcohol and has a low pH; they harvested earlier to avoid the situation that often happens in cooler years, when the grapes ripen slowly but the acidity drops (as happened in Marañones in 2013). So, in a cooler year they have managed fresh Albillo wines that have varietal character, that bitter twist on the finish and a faint salty touch. This is a sharper style than your average Albillo, and it is fresher and very pleasant and easy to drink, with subtle minerality. 3,200 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2019.