Viña Zorzal Garnacha Blanca 2018

The white 2018 Garnacha Blanca was produced with a grape that was grown in Navarra in the past (documented since 1889) but that almost disappeared from there. So, even if their focus is red wines and varieties, they are very motivated to produce a white with this variety, harvesting it very early to avoid alcoholic and heavy wines, and to be able to make it the way they like it. It was produced with grapes from a 13-year-old vineyard in the village of Fitero (near Cintruénigo), a cooler, higher altitude place, on gravel and calcium carbonate (limestone) soils. It fermented in stainless steel and then part of it matured in Flextank (plastic) eggs with yeasts, part of it went into 500-liter oak barrels, part of it in a 2,000-liter Stockinger oak vat and part of it matured in stainless steel. It's only 12.7% alcohol, relatively fresh and with good tension, picked early, even in a cooler year, because it can ripen very much. It's fresher and more vertical than the previous year, and it has a clean and varietal nose with notes of waxy apples and the tension it shows when picked early. There are 9,700 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2019.