Artigas, Oriol 2016 La Rumbera Blanco

This is all Pansa Blanca from three different vineyard sites. It's a perfect introduction to the grape, and a gateway to Oriol's single-vineyard expressions. The parcels are all on granitic sand, which lends a particularly salty and spicy character to the wine. Mostly de-stemmed, with 20% of the grapes left on the skins for a short period (1-2 weeks), and aging for 10 months on the lees in stainless steel. This is beautifully textured and also zippy and fresh. Though I'm no expert of Pansa Blanca, I'm convinced that one must at least try this wine to understand the characteristics and potential of the grape.  -Eben Lillie