2020 Molino Real White, Telmo Rodríguez, Málaga, Spain

2,015 half bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2022.

The flagship sweet white Moscatel de Alejandría 2020 Molino Real comes from nine hectares of selected vineyards on slate slopes fermented slowly in 225-litre oak barrels, where the wine matured at low temperature for 20 months. It has 13.5% natural alcohol—unfortified—and kept some 149 grams of unfermented sugar. 2020 is quite approachable, with freshness and primary notes, with complexity beyond the varietal notes, which are in the background, and there's always a very distinct note of bay leaf and balsamic. The grapes are dried outside but covered from the direct sun.

It has a bright golden colour and is delicate, elegant, balanced, and clean. Telmo told me that the juice from the pressing is very clean; the fermentation is similar to the fermentation of a red at a higher temperature. The palate also has an ethereal quality; the texture is velvety, there's a spark of acidity, and the sweetness is very integrated.

Drink 2023 - 2030