Barrialto produces natural, terruño-driven white wines from old-vine palomino grapes without fortification from the Jerez region in a micro-winery located in a converted historic tavern in Sanlúcar’s Barrio Alto sub-zone.
Barrialto Sobre Lías Santa Brigida, bottled from a single 500L butt, is a blend of two different albariza soil sub-types. Palomino grapes from Pago Balbaína Baja near Jerez (albariza tosca cerrada soils), with grapes from Pago Maína, near Sanlúcar, (albariza barajuelas soil). Rafa says that the tosca cerrada albrariza lends the blend balance and fitness, while the barrajuela albariza lends a dry minerality and herbal salinity. Each wine Rafa produces is a unique snapshot of a place, time, and soil type in his vineyards in the Jerez region. As a result, production of these authentic treasures is in the hundreds of bottles, and they are exceptionally limited, coming to the US market in tiny allocations.
Vinification
Hand-harvested palomino grapes are de-stemmed and pressed, followed by spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts from the vineyard without temperature control in a 500L ex-Manzanilla cask. After fermentation, it rests for nine months on its fine lees with bâtonnage in the same barrels before being racked into a stainless steel tank to settle before bottling unfined, with only a light paper filtration and minimal additional sulfur used before bottling.
Region
Andalucía
Subregion
Jerez
Village
Sanlúcar de Barrameda
Vineyards
Pago Balbaína Baja and Pago Maína
Grapes
100% Palomino
Vine Age
40+ years old, bush-trained
Soils
Albariza tosca cerrada and albariza barajuelas
Fermentation
Spontaneous fermentation with native yeasts in 500L ex-Manzanilla casks
Aging
Nine months on the fine lees in 500L ex-Manzanilla casks with bâtonnage, decanted into stainless steel to rest before bottling and 18 months of bottle age
Farming
Practicing organic
Vegan
Yes
ABV
13%
Pack Size
6x750mL