Remelluri Blanco 2020

Description

I’m a big fan of the Remelluri winery and Telmo Rodriguez so I could not ignore their top white Rioja, Remelluri Blanco 2020. It’s something of a cult wine, a beautiful field blend of nine different white wine varieties permitted in the Rioja appellation. Field blends are sometimes looked down upon as winemakers simply even lazily blending together all the different grapes in their vineyards but this one has been a pet project of Telmo for some years and his view is very much that terroir is king rather than any one grape variety and that this field blend expresses perfectly the terroir of the relatively high altitude vineyards in Labastida in Rioja Alavesa. In this wine from old vines on the Remelluri estate owned by Telmo & his sister Amaia, minimal intervention is practised and the wine is certified organic.

Some of the grapes included in the blend are Garnacha Blanca, Viognier, Roussanne, Marsanne, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay – but no Viura, which is the mainstay of most white Riojas. The result is a complex, multi-faceted wine with beautiful aromas and flavours of ripe pears, stone fruits, cream, ginger and camomile. The wine is full-bodied especially as this was a warm vintage and texture is creamy and well rounded. It lingers on the taste buds long after it has been swallowed. This wine is a real treat, one to savour!