Alvear 3 Miradas Cerro Macho 2021

The 3 Miradas range is Alvear's set of unfortified table wines from Montilla-Moriles in Andalusia, made from Pedro Ximenez, the grape best known there for sweet wine. Cerro Macho comes from a single site, the vines rooted in albariza chalk that reflects sunlight and stores winter moisture deep in the soil, feeding the plants through a hot, dry summer. Rather than drying the grapes for sweetness, this wine is fermented dry and then aged thirty months under flor. The veil of yeast lives on the surface in the barrel, sealing the wine from air while it consumes glycerol and gives off acetaldehyde, the source of the pungent, nutty, saline character of biologically aged whites. The colour is pale gold. The nose shows green apple, toasted almond, camomile and a briny, yeasty note. The palate is bone dry, sharp and savoury, with clear umami weight and a long saline finish. This drinks like a fine dry sherry rather than a sweet Montilla. Serve cold at 8 to 10 degrees in a white wine glass.