One of my favorite styles of wine is the light, zesty, low-alcohol white, commonly hailing from coastal Portugal, Italy or Spain. I’ve taken to calling this delightful category “Delicious Water”. Clocking in at less than 12% alcohol, DW wines are super food-friendly but are also amazing without food. In the park. On a sunny day. So refreshing. Yum…
This old-vine Parellada (a grape generally only used in the blend for Cava, Spain’s sparkling wine) from two twenty-something winemakers in Spain’s high-altitude Conca de Barbera region is a perfect example of Delicious Water. So light it’s almost clear, bright lemon-lime and pear on the palate, texture and structure (from 12 hours of skin contact) and crazy minerality (limestone soils), this wine goes down dangerously easy. Lucky for us it’s only 11.5% alcohol, organic and made with very little sulfur, only at bottling – which means it won’t hurt as bad if we drink a little too much…
Very little of this wine is produced, and it has only recently made its way into the US, thanks to a very cool young importer focused on natural Spanish wines (thanks Trumpet Wine!) Contact me if you’re interested in getting your hands on some and I can direct you.