VIÑAS DEL VERO MACABEO CHARDONNAY

VINEYARD Vintage: 2014. The vineyards from which the white varieties for Viñas del Denomination of Origin: Somontano. Vero Macabeo Chardonnay were planted between 1988 Vineyeard source: Salas Bajas & Barbastro. and 2000. They have an altitude of between 350 and Composition: Macabeo & Chardonnay. 450m above sea level and a North-South orientation. The Ageing: No. soils are Miocene, frank-sandy and very stony. Alcohol: 13% vol. Ph: 3,30. WINEMAKING Total acidity: 5,5 gr/l (tartaric). In line with our traditional way of working we picked the Residual sugar: 3,5 g/l. Chardonnay grapes during the last week of August, at First released vintage: 1988. dawn only so as to avoid any aromas escaping. The This wine should be served at between 8 and 10ºC, Macabeo grapes ripened just one month later as the mild either on its own or with pre-dinner snacks, starters, temperatures in September held the process back. Both salads, seafood, fish and light dishes. sets of grapes were then vinified in the same way: lightly crushed, chilled, the must macerated with its skins then the precious free-run juices drained off by gravity. The latter were then fermented separately for seven days, keeping the temperature below 16ºC. The coupage was VINTAGE made in October and the resulting wine stabilized by 2014 can be described as a “normal” year in that the winter chilling before being bottled in November. was dry, April was rainy and in August and September there were a fair few days of light rain. On the whole the levels of WINEMAKER’S NOTES rainfall were below the average for the last decade whilst This is a bright, very luminous, pale wine with a greenish another unusual feature of this year was the lack of wind, the sparkle to it. Its aromas are complex but white summer absence of the classic “cierzo” that is typical of the Ebro fruit such as pear, tropical fruit such as banana and stone valley. The harvest began on 22nd August, starting with the fruit such as apricot come through easily. The elegant Pinot Noir then moving on to the Chardonnay and Merlot flavours reflect the aromas and the wine has presence, grapes. The Gewürztraminer were picked “unusually” early, freshness and youth whilst also being very easy to drink over the first ten days of September, followed by the Syrah as it is well-balanced. and Tempranillo, which were good and fresh with a good acidity level. The indigenous varieties with the longer growth cycles such as Macabeo, Moristel, Cabernet Sauvignon and Parraleta ripened at the end of the month whilst the red and white Garnacha grapes were picked in early October. There were no spells of intense heat and sunshine in 2014 and as a result the grapes ripened slowly, producing well balanced bunches of fruit. The early varieties thus produced highly expressive, aromatic and flavoursome wines whereas the later varieties produced extremely fresh, attractively textured wines that are very fluid on the palate.