Pardas Crida Verd! 2019

Pardas farm an old Macabeo vineyard in the Riudebitlles valley of Penedès, near Barcelona, where the goblet-trained vines sit among olive and almond trees on stony, almost mineral ground. The estate has worked sustainably since 1996. Macabeo is a slow, textural grape here, and the stony soils and morning-sun exposure hold acidity while the fruit ripens. The wine spends two months in 500-litre French oak barrels, where the larger format limits oak flavour and instead builds texture through gentle oxygen exchange and lees contact, then rests four years in bottle. That extended bottle ageing is what gives the wine its developed, savoury character: primary fruit softens and secondary waxy, nutty and honeyed tones come forward. The colour is a deep straw. The nose leads with ripe pear and green apple over almond, beeswax and dried white flowers, with a lightly honeyed edge from age. The palate is broad and textured but stays dry, the fruit carried by firm Mediterranean acidity into a long, faintly saline finish. Serve at 10 to 12 degrees in a full white glass. It suits roast white fish, prawns and hard nutty cheeses.