Bodegas Barbadillo, Spain

For 200 years the winery has stood at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River, where its biological process came into being with the first Manzanilla it produced in its cellars. Never ones to rest on their laurels, the Barbadillo family continues to experiment, and push this traditional region into modernity with ever-daring projects, small-scale thinking and focusing on the detail … and in this instance, the detail is ‘Singular’, a white wine from a specific location, showing two expressions whilst never losing the spirit of Barbadillo. Barbadillo is also collaborating with organisations including the Natural Parks of the Junta de Andalucía, University of Cadiz, and Trafalgar Environmental Volunteers Association to preserve the nesting sites of the Kentish Plover (Chorlitejo Patinegro) on the beaches of Cadiz.

Viticulture

100% organic Palomino Fina grapes exclusively from two white clay albariza vineyards. The first is close to the sea in Sanlúcar, with vines that are more than 35 years old, and which has been organic for the last 17 years. The other vineyard is further inland, located on a hilltop overlooking the marshes between Sanlúcar and Trebujena. This vineyard is more than 25 years old and has been certified organic for more than 12 years. This combination of vineyards unite the maritime influence with that of the Guadalquivir River and the marshes, leaving a unique mark on its DNA. Grapes are harvested by hand.

Winemaking

Both Patinegro and Sábalo are from the same vineyards, with slow fermentation in stainless steel deposits at a controlled temperature of up to 17º C. The fermentation is spontaneous using only the native yeasts, followed by ageing on the lees for four months in the case of Sábalo, whilst Patinegro is aged for a year in old American oak manzanilla barrels, imparting more flor character on the wine.