2015 Belondrade y Lurton Rueda

The current vintage for the 'grand vin' is the 2015 Belondrade y Lurton, from the earliest harvest in the winery, cropped from a very warm and dry year. Their 36 hectares of vineyards are organically farmed and certified since 2009, and the different plots are fermented independently with indigenous yeasts and matured in barrel until blending in the month of June. It's very young and very fruit-driven, with the oak in the background and in a very subtle way, with clean aromas, and I'd say good Verdejo typicity. The palate is very pleasant, with a soft texture and again that pleasant light bitterness in the finish, nicely balanced by very good acidity. In fact, this 2015 has a little bit less alcohol and a little more acidity than the 2014. These wines are clearly much more interesting two to three years after the harvest, even if they can be drunk early, as they reach maturity and more complexity in a good couple of years after bottling. This is a warm vintage, but with good freshness. 98,500 bottles were produced in 2015. The wine was bottled in August 2016.