Zarate “El Palomar” Albariño Rias Baixas 2023 750ml

Pago El Palomar is a plot of 0.36 ha of Albariño vines that are centuries old. It is the oldest of our vineyards and one of the oldest documented in the Rías Baixas.

The soil is granitic and shallow. The roots, to ensure their nutrition, penetrate deep into the rock, which gives the wine a particular mineral character. It is an ungrafted plot, the average yield is very low, 38 hl/ha. The grapes are harvested manually and selected on the plot. The grapes are destemmed and subjected to a long, gentle pressing, resulting in a low must yield. The must ferments in a 2,200-litre foudre made of 15-year-old French oak from the Vosges.

Foudre fermentation results in a low extraction of oak but an oxidative ageing process that allows the wine to remain in contact with its lees without racking until after malolactic fermentation, which develops spontaneously. After the first racking, the wine remains in contact with its fine lees for a further three months until bottling.