Celler del Roure Cullerot, Valencia, Spain

德羅爾酒莊卡勒羅特白葡萄酒

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：2415

In 2022 they got very good balance in their wines, with a little more ripeness but also higher acidities, and the 2022 Cullerot has more intensity and structure and a dominance of old vines and white soils. It's 50% Macabeo, 15% Verdil, 15% Malvasía, 10% Pedro Ximénez and 10% other varieties, with 13% alcohol. It's more serious, balsamic, with notes of herbal tea, flowers and fennel, deep and balanced, with a little more complexity and length. It matured in 2,600-liter clay tinaja for six months. There seems to be more influence from a large plot of old Macabeo that was introduced in the wine. The quality transcends the price. 60,000 bottles were produced. It was bottled in January 2023.

They added two new (rented) plots to the white blend 2021 Cullerot from 40+-year-old vineyards of Macabeo and Malvasía (nonaromatic) on very white soils at 600+ meters in altitude. 2021 saw a later harvest than 2020, and it was a year with a rainy spring and a mild summer. The wines have less muscle and are more immediate and fluid, with lower alcohol and a slightly higher pH. This blend of 30% Pedro Ximenez, 30% Macabeo, 10% Malvasía, 10% Tortosina, 10% Verdil, 5% Merseguera and 5% Chardonnay fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in 2,600-liter clay tinaja for six months. It has 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.13 and 6.8 grams of acidity, good ripeness, freshness and balance. The wine is still very young and a little reductive from the recent bottling. It is very fresh and precise, with notes of fennel and herbs and a faint bitter twist, with good length and quite sharp. This year, it has more Macabeo than ever. Give it a few more months in bottle. 55,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2022.

Even if already sold out, I also tasted the white 2020 Cullerot because it's probably their finest vintage for this wine. The nose is very expressive, with notes of flowers, talcum powder, fennel and aniseed, pollen and herbs, with a soft texture combining volume with freshness in a year when the grapes ripened properly. It's been settled by some time in bottle and feels very harmonious and ready. It has 13.2% alcohol with a pH of 3.23 (the white does not go through malolactic) and feels very balanced, tasty and supple. 40,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2021.

2019 was marked by torrential rains in the second half of the harvest, and when I say torrential, it is not an exaggeration, as they got 300 liters in three days! The white grapes for the 2019 Cullerot were picked before that. They work with five different local varieties from seven different growers that own 15 hectares in total. The 2019 breakdown is 30% Pedro Ximénez, 30% Macabeo, 10% Malvasía, 10% Tortosina, 10% Verdil, 5% Merseguera and 5% Chardonnay, and the wine is 12.5% alcohol and has good freshness. It started fermenting in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and finished in tinaja, where it matured for six months. This has come a long way since the initial, almost accidental vintage in 2009. It's now serious and harmonious, subtle and elegant, with finesse and balance. They added Macabeo and Merseguera grapes from a couple of new vineyards, and there's also more Pedro Ximénez, all austere and not very aromatic grapes, with just a hint of fennel and aniseed but more austere than anything. It's juicy and fresh and makes you salivate. This shows that you don't need oak to achieve a complex white. This is nearly as good as the 2018, when they were thinking about the vintage of the century! 50,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2020. They are experimenting with Assyrtiko grapes. Stay tuned...

The white 2018 Cullerot had just been bottled when I tasted it. It's a wine that was born as an accident and has changed a lot, and it's now produced with a blend of (mostly) local varieties sourced from different growers—approximately 25% Macabeo and 25% Pedro Ximenez and 10% each Malvasía, Tortosina, Verdil, Chardonnay and other whites. It matured in buried 2,600-liter tinaja for six months. The summer was wet and cool, which benefited whites (it was a more challenging year for reds), and they got a good crop and could sort and select the best grapes. The wine is fine and elegant, Mediterranean and spicy, with notes of fennel and aniseed. It also has a balsamic, bay leaf-like note. It's long and narrow, with good freshness and acidity, in line with the 2016. Very tasty and a bargain for the price. They now produce 45,000 bottles of this and control about 15 hectares of white grape varieties.