Majuelo ’El Espejo’ - Verdejo (22)

Verdejo | single vineyard 'El Espejo' | net voor de kelder gelegen Espejo = spiegel | 23 jaar oude stokken, geënt van Majuelo 'del Chiviritero' en 'la Otea'  | stening terroir bij La Seca | 750 meter hoogte | whole bunch pressed | volledig vergist en gerijpt voor 23 maanden op Frans eikenhout van 500l | diep | zoutig | veel spanning | citrus zest | iets reductie

Isaac Cantalapiedra

De familie Cantalapiedra bezit ongeveer 20 hectare in het gebied la Seca, op 750 meter hoogte en ten hoogte van Madrid. Manuel maakt deel uit van de huidige generatie en heeft een duidelijke visie; rijpere stijl Verdejo van biologische druiven. Daarnaast hebben ze drie single vineyards genaamd: 'Chiviritero', 'Los Picones' en 'La Otea' en sinds kort is hij ook begonnen met een project in Toro waar hij met de inheemse druif Tinto de Toro een hele fraaie rode wijn maakt. Inmiddels is de hele serie in ons assortiment en bijna niet meer weg te denken in de topgastronomie.

Review

The 2021 Majuelo El Espejo is the second vintage for this single-vineyard Verdejo from a north-facing plot of four hectares planted in 2001 with more clay, gray marl and limestone mother rock and less boulders on the surface. In 2021, they suffered mildew and only produced it with part of the grapes, and the rest went to Cantayano. The wine is quite cloudy, expressive and aromatic, alive and showy, a powerful white with ripeness, 14% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity. It fermented in French oak barrels with indigenous yeasts for 25 days and matured in those 500-liter barrels for 23 months. It's quite different from the rest, beautifully textured, reminding me of an ouillé wine from Ganevat. It's tasty and saline, long and mineral. Beautiful! Unfortunately, only 650 bottles were produced in 2021. It was bottled in August 2023 because of the small volume and logistics, but the future could be two winters in barrel. 95/100 Luis Gutiérrez

Cantalapiedra Viticultores is a family winery that was created in the village of La Seca in Rueda in 2014 in which two generations are working already. The winemaker is the young Manuel Cantalapiedra, who has also started a personal project. Most of their vines are in their village, 21 hectares planted with Verdejo. They have also bought some old, ungrafted vines, 0.4 hectares of 80-year-old vines in Alcazarén, 1.5 hectares of vines in Hornillos de Eresma and one hectare in Matapozuelos and 2.6 hectares on Toro. They have also rented old Garnacha in Villafranca del Duero and in Palacios Rubios, close to Arévalo, and they also work a centenary plot of Garnacha. So, they work a total of 30 hectares. Production is around 140,000 bottles. All of the wines are sold without appellation of origin, as Vino Varietal, like table wine where you can use vintage and variety.

2021 was a cooler year, but they don't want to talk about cold years anymore, so let's say a "normal" year of wines with more precision and freshness. 2022 was the warmest year they remember since they started in 2014. But the result is much better than expected; they got moderate alcohol because the plants got blocked, and they have the lowest alcohol in their wines ever. All of the wines are certified organic, all of the whites go through full malolactic, they use as little sulfur as possible, and none of the wines are filtered.