Herència Altés Trementinaire 2021

Herència Altés works in the D.O. Terra Alta, in inland Catalonia, with Garnacha Blanca, the white grape that defines the appellation. Trementinaire takes its name from the itinerant women of these mountain areas who gathered medicinal herbs and made turpentine remedies. The wine is bottled from organically farmed fruit and made as an orange wine, with skin contact drawing tannin and colour from the grape skins, then given two years of oxidative ageing. This long exposure to air slowly converts alcohol into compounds that bring nutty, dried-fruit and savoury character, in the manner of the region's traditional wines, and builds the firm structure that marks the style. The warm, windy Terra Alta climate and its limestone and clay soils ripen Garnacha Blanca fully while holding the freshness that balances the oxidative depth. The wine is deep amber, highly aromatic, with dehydrated orange peel, dried herbs and dried apricot over almond, walnut and beeswax. The palate is dry and structured, with firm grip, a savoury, nutty core and a long finish. Serve at 12 to 14 degrees, decanted, in a broad glass. It suits roast pork, chicken and oily fish.