Chozas Carrascal - Anma Blanco, Vino de Pago, Utiel-Requena, Spain (2021)

TASTING NOTES

This Blanco is fantastic value. Elegant aromas of medium intensity, highlighting notes of white flowers, citrus hints and nuances of apricot and soft honey. Intense attack, with great freshness and liveliness. Silky, enveloping and structured in the mouth with a mineral touch at the end.

Hand-sourced from a single, estate vineyard. 80% are pressed and fermented in a stainless steel tank. The remaining fruit is fermented with skin contact in concrete eggs. Once the fermentation, using indigenous yeasts, is finished, the blend is transferred to a foudre, where is aged for 6 months before bottling & release.

In 1990, husband and wife team Julin López and María José Peidro purchased an established vineyard in the Requena-Utiel region of Valencia in south-eastern Spain. Shortly thereafter, when their extensive studies identified that their terroir was similar to that of many of the French vineyards they frequently visited as a family, they planted several international grape varieties.  

Chozas Carrascal’s vineyards are at an elevation ranging from about 750-840m. Those lower temperatures mean more chill grapes that retain that crisp freshness. Located in Valencia, in Spain’s Mediterranean coast the climate is decidedly continental due to its altitude, making for hot summers, cold winters and large diurnal temperature variations. The estate’s dry setting is somewhat offset by its limestone-rich soils, which importantly retain moisture. Utiel-Requena produces mostly red wines and nearly 95% of the vineyards are planted with red grape varieties.

Today, the Chozas Carrascal vineyard is comprised of 14 plots sitting at 750-840m above sea-level on a thick slab of limestone-based subsoil, distinctive within the region. Their climate is significantly more continental than the rest of the D.O.P., with hot, dry summer days and cool, fresh nights. The winery’s uniqueness was recognized in 2012 when it was awarded ‘Vino de Pago’ status, meaning the winery is its own D.O., separate, distinct and at the top of the Spanish wine hierarchy.

The 30-hectare vineyard at Chozas Carrascal is planted with 12 grape varieties split between local, indigenous grapes—Bobal, Monastrell, Garnacha, Tempranillo and Macabeo—and widely-recognized French examples: Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Syrah, Chardonnay, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc. These vineyards are farmed and certified organic and the wines exhibit elegant structure, intense, complex character and, most importantly, delicious drinkability.