Viña Zorzal Malayeto

The 2022 Malayeto surprised me. This wine is always harmonious and goes beyond the variety even in a warm, dry and ripe year like 2022. And it has a harmony and balance, coming through as clean and expressive, with precision and definition. This is the 10th vintage for this plot of Garnacha grown on an alluvial terrace. It fermented in stainless steel and concrete and matured in a 4,000-liter oak vat and 13 500-liter French oak barrels for 12 months. It has 13.78% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 5.5 grams of acidity. 13,900 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2024.

One of the true bargains from Navarra and the whole of Spain has to be the 2019 Malayeto; it's pure Garnacha from a plot of 2.39 hectares of 40-year-old vines on complex soils with limestone, gravel and stones. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in a combination of concrete and stainless steel and matured in a 4,000-liter oak vat and eight used 500-liter oak barrels for 12 months. This is my go-to wine here, a Garnacha that always delivers and the one that for me defines the house style and the character of the year. This is soft and caressing, elegant and harmonious. This is every bit as good as the 2018 despite the warmer conditions of the year, keeping the freshness; there is great purity and detail and it's elegant and balanced, extremely harmonious and seamless, with very fine tannins and great integration of the oak. Bravo! 10,600 bottles were filled in February 2021.

Tasted blind. Pale intensity. Elegant and delicate red fruits on the nose. On the palate, it is ethereal and light, with precise sappy tannins, packed with sweet fruit sensation. Sincerely pleasant to drink, with a refreshing and thrilling mineral finish. This is a genius interpretation of Garnacha. GV - Good value.