Blanco 'Edad Media'

Score

93

"The expressive and aromatic 2018 Blanco Edad Media is a blend of 60% Chardonnay, 30% Chenin Blanc and 10% Sauvignon Blanc that had a flinty and faintly reductive nose that I loved. The wine developed a thin layer of yeasts, and the effect is very subtle but it lifts the wine up and does not take over its character. The palate was austere and mineral, with some chalky tannins and a supple, tasty finish."

Score

93

"Bright medium yellow. Bracing aromas of lime and lemon zest, spices and cotton candy. Then surprisingly supple and mouthfilling but vibrant too, with its combination of acidity and salinity contributing to an overall impression of weightlessness. This utterly refined blend finishes subtle and very long, with superb lift and grip. Michelini suggests pairing this wine with sweetbreads in a lemon sauce or with oysters. Incidentally, the first vintage of this wine, the 2015, was 90% Sauvignon Blanc and the 2017 was 90% Chardonnay. Michelini told me that this vintage's brisk acidity (the finished pH is 3.2) was provided by its Chenin Blanc component. This utterly unique wine should age in an interesting way. (fermented in concrete eggs, then aged in 500-liter oak barrels, 50% new and 50% two and three years old, with some stirring of the lees; 50% of the wine went through malolactic fermentation and a high percentage of the barrels developed a thin layer of flor)"

Score

94