El Pinto Palomino Hacienda La Parrilla 2020

Country: Spain

Region: Andalusia

Grape: Palomino

Volume: 75cl

ABV: 12%

Vintage: 2020

Suitable for Vegans: Yes 

Suitable for Vegetarians: Yes

Food pairing: A mouth-watering friend to chargrilled sardines or a classic feta and olive salad and the zesty lemon flavours that this wine offers mean it’s awesome as an aperitif.

El Pinto is a collaborative project between Les Caves de Pyrene and Hacienda La Parrilla. The main goal of this alliance is to design and release outstanding value wines from sustainably grown grapes, as naturally as possible. Wines made this way will identify most often with the characteristics of the area, a shining reflection of the beautiful terroir. A oenophile’s dream.

The vineyards are part of a five-hundred hectare estate (owned by the Rebuelta González brothers, who built the winery in an old olive mill, within their charming ranch house which dates to 1881) in the San Jose del Valle, inland, thirty-five kilometres south-east of Jerez, in beautiful countryside close to the Sierra de Cadiz. The estate is made up of old olive trees, seventeen hectares of vineyards, pasture (where Iberico pigs roam free) and a small medley of other crops. 

Grapes are harvested manually and whole-bunch pressed into stainless steel tanks, where they undergo a cool temperature fermentation with native yeasts. The wine also undergoes a natural malolactic conversion. After a brief period on the lees, El Pinto Palomino is bottled without filtration or fining, just a dash of sulphur. The wine is bright golden yellow, aromatically suggestive of lemon peel and persimmon, the palate shows classic citrus fruit, refreshing acidity, chalky minerality and that oh-so-divine sea salt finish. This is a real winner folks!