Las Envidias 2022

Vintage: 2022

Region: Castilla y León, Valladolid

Grapes: Palomino 100%

Agriculture: Organic, ungrafted vines over 100 years old, La Liebre parcel, Alcazarén. Aeolian sandy soils, 778m altitude, continental climate. 0.24 ha.

Vinification: Hand harvested in 10kg crates with bunch selection. Whole cluster maceration 12 to 18 hours, pressed with stems, natural settling. Spontaneous fermentation in 300L barrels and one Sherry butt, aged under the influence of Sherry-style ageing for 12 months, then 4 months in tank before bottling. Lightly clarified and filtered, no cold stabilisation.

Volume: 750ml

Las Envidias takes its name from the paraje, the named vineyard area, in Alcazarén where the vines grow. After more than a year working to rehabilitate these old vines, Bea and Félix discovered that what they had been told was verdejo mayor was actually Palomino, the grape of Jerez. Rather than being deterred, they looked south for inspiration. Palomino is not especially expressive on the nose when vinified conventionally, but in Sherry it finds its voice through ageing, and that is exactly the logic applied here. 

Fermentation happens spontaneously in 300L barrels alongside a traditional Sherry butt, and the wine spends 12 months developing complexity in that environment before four months in tank and a light filtration. The result is something unusual: a continental Palomino with a nod to the south, from century-old ungrafted vines on the sandy soils that saved this corner of Castilla y León from phylloxera.