2023 Jose Pariente Verdejo Rueda

This was the first wine made by the winery in 1998. A classic, approachable and appealing Verdejo that shows off the citrus and tropical nature of the variety with lots of lime and pineapple aromas. It is a young wine but they are looking for some complexity, working with various vineyards across their estate of at least 15 years age, and only releasing the wine in the spring so it has time to develop. A little lees work adds to the richness on the palate while some use of concrete and tinaja in fermentation allows the full expression of all the wonderful herbal and aniseed character of the variety.

I really love white wine, I love the kind of gamut that it runs always the possibility of a surprise in a way that I've convinced myself red wine doesn't always have. Plus I really like cold drinks, which is a silly reason to prefer white wine but I'd be dishonest if I pretended it didn't play a role. The nose has a lot of grapefruit zest with a touch of pith, and then just to mix it up there's some lemon as well as a touch of something savory and a little bit of white flowers. The palate is crisp and pretty, really nice with a lot more of the grapefruit and lemon, a little touch of something stone-fruit in the background and more floral hints. This is such a quintessentially crushable bottle of wine, it has everything you want in something you're just going to drink with a bunch of your friends or just by yourself in the back yard while you contemplate what exactly got you to where you are, just a fun bottle of a fun and light time.