Alvear 3 Miradas Vino de Pueblo 2023

Alvear is a historic house in Montilla-Moriles, the Andalusian region best known for Pedro Ximénez. This wine is a departure from the sweet styles the grape usually makes: a dry table white built from old-vine fruit grown in different plots of the Sierra de Montilla, at Río Frío Alto and Cerro Macho. The area's white albariza-type soils and hot, dry climate ripen the grapes fully, but the character of the wine comes chiefly from the cellar. It spends eight months under a veil of flor, the film of native yeast that forms on the surface of the wine in barrel. Flor protects the wine from air and, as it feeds, converts elements of the wine into the compounds that give biological ageing its signature almond, dough and umami character, along with a distinct saline tang. The result is pale gold. The nose is savoury and yeasty, with almond, green apple, chamomile and a fresh-dough note, and the palate is bone dry, taut and saline, finishing long and clean. This is a wine of texture and savour rather than fruit sweetness. Serve well chilled at 8 to 10 degrees in a white glass.