Casa Balaguer Salicornio Moscatel 2024

Casa Balaguer, part of the Vinessens project run by Andrés Carull and Marta Ribera, work in the D.O. Alicante in Valencia, on the warm, dry Spanish Mediterranean coast. This orange wine is made from Moscatel, the aromatic Muscat grape, here fermented on its skins so that the maceration tempers the grape's natural floral sweetness with phenolic grip and amber colour drawn from the skins. The wine spends six months in concrete and old stone lagares, vessels that allow a gentle, slow exchange of oxygen without adding oak flavour, softening the tannins and building a saline, savoury complexity. The coastal site, with its salt laden air and poor soils, lends a briny, mineral character that the name Salicornio, after the coastal samphire plant, plays on. Natural, vegan and sustainably farmed. The colour is a cloudy, vibrant amber. The nose shows orange marmalade, dried apricot and a salty, herbal edge, and the palate is dry, textured and saline with a long, gently tannic finish. Serve at 12 to 14 degrees. Good with roast chicken, pork and mildly spiced dishes.