Herència Altés La Serra Garnatxa Blanca 2018

This is the flagship wine for Herència Altés, one of the leading producers in Spain’s Terra Alta region, championing local varieties, in this case garnatxa blanca (grenache blanc). It is from their oldest vineyard, ‘La Serra’, which sits at a lofty 420m above sea level and is meticulously cared for and certified organic. I have now had the opportunity to try three vintages of this exceptional wine and in all three tasting notes I have used a comparison to white Burgundy to emphasise the quality of this wine: ‘rivals Burgundy’ and ‘better than Burg’ - if nothing, I am a very consistent taster and note taker.

So, what to expect from this truely wonderful wine... it has the richness you’d expect from grenache blanc, with persistent acid from the higher altitude. Soil-wise it is limestone and sandy clay with the limestone is shining though via a nervy tension from start to finish. There is a touch of oak, integrated with generous fruit - melon, lemon curd, grapefruit - and highlights of fennel seed and aniseed. Decanter magazine gave the 2017 vintage of this wine 96 points. We’re not waiting for the new scores to be published, we hold firm conviction that this is a very fine wine.