Alonso & Pedrajo La Pequenita Rioja Blanco Macerado Maturana Blanca 2019

“The very dark orange 2019 La Pequeñíta Blanco Macerado Maturana Blanca has a very intense nose of peach in syrup that makes you think of a sweet wine, with notes of quince paste, earth and some spices. It’s heavily marked by the maceration with skins in two ancient tinajas (300- and 600-liter) and one 500-liter oak barrel during a slow four-week fermentation; the wine was kept in contact with the skins for four months and then moved to a 500-liter and a 600-liter oak barrel, where the wine decanted with weekly bâtonnage and rested for seven months. It’s a wild and characterful wine with 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.35, so with lots of freshness and piercing acidity (the signature of the variety) and a very tasty, salty finish where the texture comes through as chalky and dense. 1,362 bottles were filled in August 2020. Drink: 2022-2027. 93 points

Alonso & Pedrajo (Javier Alonso, Alberto Pedrajo and their respective partners) are the new members of the Rioja’n’Roll group. In March 2022, they started building their own winery in Villalba de Rioja, where they have their main vineyard, La Cala, on a 4.8-hectare property where they have some old and new vines. They work mainly (70%) with grapes from the village, where they control some vineyards and the rest from Haro, Anguciana and Cuzcurrita de Río Tirón. They now produce around 25,000 bottles. They are also involved in the 220 Cántaras project (previously called Honorio Rubio).”