Zarate Balado, Rias Baixas, Spain

薩拉特酒莊巴拉多白葡萄酒

點(diǎn)擊次數(shù)：4215

The 2022 Balado, quite similar in soil and vine age as the Palomar, has the sensation of the granite soils. It's a powerful Albari?o with 13.5% alcohol, and it didn't go through malolactic, as they thought the wine had the balance without it and the extra acid makes the wine more balanced with the riper fruit. It's clean, tasty and quite drinkable already. 4,600 bottles were filled in May 2023. This is the first of the single-vineyard wines to be bottled.

The 2021 Balado went through full malolactic, and the grapes were less ripe than the ones from 2022, resulting in a wine with half a degree less alcohol, which it needed to balance the acidity. It's sharp and more austere, vertical and with a very tasty palate. It's a vintage that could be similar to 2013, years with lots of malic acid, but the wine does not have any lactic character. It has an herbal touch and very tasty flavors, complex already. I think this will age nicely. 4,200 bottles and 150 magnums were produced. It was bottled in May 2022.

The 2020 Balado fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, where it was kept with the full lees for three months, after which time it was racked and kept with fine lees for a further six months. It didn't have any batonnage and didn't go through malolactic fermentation. It has less alcohol than the 2019 I tasted next to it (13%) and has similar pH and acidity. Not having gone through malolactic, the acidity is different, it's a little like a Granny Smith apple, sharper and effervescent. This is very tasty, quite aromatic and approachable, and the grapes were perfumed from very early on. It was a very healthy crop, even if low in yields. 2,660 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2021. They told me 2021 will be different, like the wines from the 1980s when it was difficult to achieve 12% alcohol.

The 2019 Balado is the ripest of the Albari?os that I tasted at 13.6% alcohol, a powerful and vibrant white with very high acidity (8.2 grams) and a low pH (3.12). Because it had very high acidity, it underwent 100% malolactic, and the wine has remained with very good balance and a lactic touch. It comes from two small plots in Sisán that were replanted ungrafted in 1959, both south-facing and shallow on granite soils enclosed by stone walls ("balado" in the Gallego language means "walled"). It's fresh and wakes you up, and it's very tasty and young, with citrus hints and a balsamic touch. 2,660 bottles were filled in May 2020.

The 2018 Balado is quite closed and serious, reticent, not exuberant; on the contrary, it's austere but has an electric palate (it has one of the highest acidities), but it is not green, vertical but then comes back and explodes to a more expansive wine in the palate. This has to rank among the finest 2018s in the zone. According to Eulogio Pomares, it reached the balance between alcohol and acidity right from the grapes. I don't feel the 13.6% alcohol, and it has 8.2 grams of acidity, which is not really felt either. This should develop nicely in bottle. 2,660 bottles were filled in April 2019.