2016 Remelluri Blanco Øko Rioja

2016 was a more challenging but remarkably cooler year, and the 2016 Blanco shows great freshness and contained ripeness, as the grapes ripened slowly and late. The wine had less alcohol and more acidity than the 2015 I tasted next to it. It has to be the finest vintage for the white produced here, still young and undeveloped. It's the palate where the wine is vibrant and lively, very fresh, harmonious and long. I tasted a 2007 next to this, and it showed perfect for drinking, so that can give you an idea of how this wine can develop for a good ten years after the harvest. 10,094 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2018. It has to be one of the finest whites produced at Remelluri.

A modern classic: a nine-variety white Rioja blend which, apart from the local varieties, also has some southern French ingredients. An original, which gets ever better. Lovely aromatics, and the underlying memory is freshness, overlaid by sweet spices, ripe pear and apple fruits, with a very long finish.