Poco a Poco! Macabeo/Sauvignon Blanc 2014

Made with the help of Rioja mavericks Bodegas Luis Alegre in Utiel Requena, central eastern Spain, Poco a Poco (translating as ‘bit by bit’) is all about letting the grapes speak for themselves. They don’t rush the winemaking process and opt for a slow fermentation at lower temperature, which gets the pure, tropical fruit out of the grapes more effectively. Think of the difference between roasting a pork belly for 40 minutes at 200C and roasting it for four hours at 100C. Come to think of it, with its zippy, apple and melon acidity, that would be a ruddy good match. But remember to eat it Poco a Poco to really savour it…

Poco a Poco is a joint venture between Bodegas Luis Alegre and Bodega Vereda in Utiel Requena, central eastern Spain. It is based at a state of the art modern winery that has been making excellent quality, well-balanced wines from the Mediterranean for 10 years. They use minimal irrigation, restricted yields and minimal treatments in the winery, to make the wines as naturally as possible.

In the vineyards they carry out an intensive selection process of the Macabeo and Sauvignon Blanc grapes to achieve the maximum maturity and balance. In the winery they use strict temperature controls to bring the temperature down to between 2 and 4C to maintain optimum freshness and aromatics in the grapes. A gentle pressing takes place before temperature controlled fermentation of the must at 12-14C for approximately 24 days. A light, gentle clarifying and filtration takes place to maintain the natural character and aromatics before the wine is allowed to rest before bottling. No eggs or dairy rare used in the winemaking process.

A light straw colour, this wine is clean and bright in appearance. It has good intensity on the nose with fresh tropical fruit and floral notes. On the palate it is fresh, enjoyable and persistent with good balancing acidity making it refreshing and great with food, including fattier dishes such as pork belly.