Celler del Roure Cullerot 2023

93 POINTS: Robert Parker's - The Wine Advocate
94 POINTS: Wine Direct Tasting Team
"The white 2023 Cullerot was produced with five local varieties—50% Macabeo, 15% Verdil, 15% Malvasía, 10% Pedro Ximenez and 10% other varieties—from seven growers and a total of 15 hectares. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in 2,600-liter tinaja for six months. It has 12.64% alcohol, a pH of 3.44 and 6.17 grams of acidity. It has a pale yellow color and a Mediterranean profile that is floral and aromatic, with notes of dry hay, fennel and yellow flowers. It has an elegant and balanced palate that is very clean and precise, easy but serious, complex and long beyond its price point. 65,000 bottles produced. There are different lots from a master blend."
When Pablo Calatayud founded Celler del Roure in 1995 he chose as its setting an ancient country estate outside of Moixent. For centuries this was an integrated farm producing grain, almonds, olives, and grapes with unsubtle evidence for the production of olive oil and wine – a large, stone, olive press and extensive subterranean cellar with dozens of intact 17th-century amphorae. It took a few years of research and restoration but Pablo is using these clay vessels to make wine once again. Cullerot, which means tadpole, is the white that Pablo makes in the old cellar utilizing heirloom and indigenous varieties including Macabeo, Malvasía, Pedro Ximénez, Verdil, and others. The goal is to base the wine on Mediterranean varieties best suited to the region – varieties that fully ripen with more modest alcohol levels.
Abv 12.5%