Monopole Clásico Blanco Seco Reserva 2020

The white 2020 Monopole Clásico Reserva (which now includes "Reserva" in the name, which it was before but it wasn't explicit on the label) replicates the wines from the 1960s, letting the juice settle in concrete and fermenting it in stainless steel, then matured in oak barrels and Sherry butts, where it matured for eight months. They are reducing the amount of Manzanilla they add to the wine, as they have managed to grow a veil of flor yeasts in the butts filled with Viura wine. The Sherry twang is even subtler than in the past. The wine has 13.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.34, 5.31 grams of acidity and a mellower mouthfeel than in previous years, but those Sherry notes grow with time in bottle. It's a lighter year (it shows the vintage), savory and different but subtler. 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023.

CVNE's superb white - now sold as a Reserva rather than a Genérico - is a blend of Viura from the bodega's La Plana vineyard and 5% Palomino, aged in a combination of oak barrels and Sherry casks. Salty, bright and refined, it has notes of blanched almond and citrus peel and a toasty undertone. 2024-30