La Cayetana - Criolla Blanca Blend - Maipu, Mendoza, AR - 2020

This extraordinary, fascinating wine is made from 90% Criolla Blanca, fermented with native yeast in raw 5,000 litre concrete vessels for 21 days. It is aged there on its lees for 6 months and spends 8 months resting in bottle prior to release. The other 10% is a blend of Gewürztraminer, Viognier and Semillon, aged for two years in oak pipes under flor and is added when the wine is bottled as a form of ‘dosage’. Delicious.

Criolla Blanca is the offspring of Listan Prieto (aka Pais, Criolla Chica, Mission) and Muscat de Alexandria and is the second most widely planted white variety of Argentina. Most Criolla Blanca goes into bulk wine and is often disregarded. Criolla Blanca is not planted in other countries and is often referred to as Pedro Ximenez in Argentina. The fruit from this wine comes from a 20 year old parral vineyard which is sustainably farmed and flood irrigated. The deep sandy soils are comprised of fine deposits from fluvial activity. The vineyard is located in Gustavo André, a subregion of Lavalle, in Eastern Mendoza. This vineyard is located to the Northeast of Maipu and sits at just 1850 feet elevation.