Jose Gil Paraje El Bardallo 2023

The 2023 El Bardallo was produced with Tempranillo and 10% Viura from three plots in the lieu-dit that names the wine at 555 meters above sea level, one of them ungrafted and all on soils with a high content of calcium carbonate. It fermented with 15% full clusters in concrete with indigenous yeasts and matured in 500-liter barrels for 11 months. The 2023s tend to have lower alcohol and more freshness and acidity than the 2022s; for example, this has 13.6% alcohol. They seem to have removed any trace of fat from this wine, and it's fine-boned and serious, not exuberant. It has a very chalky palate through the texture of the tannins. It should be long lived. 3,300 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2024. I previewed this wine from 2024 and it could be the wine of the year together with Camino de Ribas, slightly above La Canoca. But it's too early to talk... (Luis Guitérrez)