Belondrade Quinta Apolonia 2015

"Clarisa and Apolonia are the names of Didier Belondrade's daughters, and they also name two of his wines; one of them is this 2014 Quinta Apolonia, the second wine of Belondrade y Lurton much the same as a Bordeaux second wine. To make it clear that the wine is not at the same level as the 'Grand Vin,' it's sold without the Rueda appellation (although somehow many wines without appellation are now more prestigious than most of the ones wearing the appellation back label). 2014 was a completely different vintage than 2013, one of the earliest harvests together with 2006, but it's not as warm. It's pure organically-farmed Verdejo, part stainless steel fermented and part barrel fermented (the barrels that do not make it into the Belondrade y Lurton), with a fresh nose of white flowers, fennel and green apples; it's very aromatic, clean and focused, with no oak traces whatsoever. The palate is very fresh (no malo, although some barrels might do it, at least partially) with clean flavors, and is balanced with very good length. 2014 could be similar to 2012, but they harvested earlier and got a fresher wine. As a reference, I retasted the 2012, which today is drinking beautifully and now fully developed. This is a really noteworthy Apolonia. 45,000 bottles produced".