NV Fino Inocente
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Tasting notes
There is a special unfiltered magnum of the Inocente Fino, the NV Fino Inocente En Rama Magnum with a seasonal bottling clearly printed on the front label, in this case Spring Batch 2024, a series of numbered bottles. The regular bottling was already among the best and my favorite Fino, and this special one is off the charts and still a bargain for what it is (in Spain, it retails for about half the price than in the US!), an unfiltered 11-year-old Fino from one of the best vineyards for the category, Pago Macharnudo Alto (this is one of the few single-vineyard Finos out there), selected from an old 17-hectare plot of very white soils. It was vinified like before, fermenting the must in butt (very few continue doing it like that) and aging the wine in the dynamic blend of criaderas y soleras. It has incredible complexity, depth, nuance and elegance, with marked bitterness and pungency in the finish. There are 752 numbered magnums selected from specific casks in the solera that have a more pungent mineral personality and strong biological character. The price is for a magnum. It was bottled in May 2024.
Critic scores
Average Score
Jancis Robinson MW
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
Persistent, dried apples, hints of rosemary, salt and cream, following through to a medium body, creamy texture and a flavorful finish. Subtle yet complex aftertaste. Drink now.
As with many other wines from the José Estévez group, there is a special bottling of Valdespino's flagship NV Fino Inocente in magnum, but in this case they have kept the bottles for six months as the wine is from the saca otoño 2016, the autumn bottling from 2016. So the wine is offered with some extra bottle age. It has all that you expect from Inocente, a long aging wine fermented in bota from grapes grown exclusively in the Macharnudo Alto vineyard and bottled with an average age of ten years. All the textbook aromas and flavors are there, coupled with the elegance and mineral intensity the Macharnudo white chalky soils provide. Customers who purchase one of this scarce magnums probably know Inocente already. This will have a longer development in bottle. Only 600 magnums were filled in the autumn of 2016.
Pale straw. Strongly smoky and briney on the nose. Dusty and fresh almonds on the nose, too, with some hay. Tangy but softly textured, definitely an easy-going fino but there’s much pleasure in its gentleness. Lapsang smokiness on the finish. (JH)