Lalume, Dominio do Bibei 2023

I was quite impressed when I put my nose in the glass of the 2023 Lalume, their white from Ribeiro. 2023 was far from easy there, and they had to do a lot of selection, sorting and discarding. But the hard work seems to have paid off, and the wine is delicate, expressive, intense and clean, with complexity, mixing notes of white and yellow fruit, herbs and flowers. It was produced with a blend of 88% Treixadura, 6% Albariño, 5% Godello and the rest Caíño Branco, Torrontés and Loureira. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in different materials and sizes: stainless steel, concrete eggs and large barrels and foudres, where the wine matured with fine lees and without going through malolactic fermentation, the blend finishing in large 12,000-liter stainless steel vats. It's round and fresh, with contained ripeness, 13.1% alcohol, a pH of 3.3 and 5.9 grams of acidity, coming through as balanced. It's elegant, pure and focused like never before.