Cullerot 2021

Crítica

2021 > 92 puntos
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.
2020 > 92+ puntos
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 > 92 puntos
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...