200 Monges Blanco Reserva 2013

Vinicola Real makes 200 Monges Blanco Reserva in Albelda de Iregua, in the eastern part of La Rioja, from Viura with a little Malvasia. The vines grow on clay and limestone soils at altitude, where cool nights hold acidity and slow the ripening that a long barrel maturation later needs. This is a white built for the cellar. It spends around sixty months in oak barrels, an unusually long ageing during which slow oxygen exchange through the wood and gradual oxidative development transform the wine, deepening its colour and layering nutty, savoury character over the fruit. The result is deep gold in the glass, with a nose of roasted hazelnut, dried apricot, beeswax and toasted bread. The palate is broad and dry, carrying honey, almond and a saline, mineral edge, with the firm acidity of the high vineyards keeping it fresh through a long finish. Aged white Rioja of this kind is a distinct style, closer to a fine oxidative white than to a modern fruit-driven one. Serve at 12 to 14 degrees in a full white-wine glass.