The 2021 Malvasía is the first white I tasted from the collection of 2021 whites, a wine that showcases what's to come from the rest of the 2021 whites: freshness, precision, clarity and symmetry, elegance and subtleness. The wines are extremely young and tender, and all are produced in the same way—fermented in barrel, where it matured with the lees and batonnage for some five months. They have not changed much, but they are fine-tuning the barrels and coopers they use and have started using some 500-liter barrels, not only 225-liter ones like in the past. The Malvasía is the lowest in alcohol, 13%, and has incredible freshness, a pH of3.17 and almost six grams of acidity—unheard of parameters for the variety. The wine is delicate and ethereal like never before. 3,858 bottles were filled in April 2022.

Malvasía Riojana is not an aromatic white grape, as it's only the local name for a rather neutral grape from Extremadura called Alarije that is also planted in Catalu?a under the name Subirat Parent. So, that's the 2019 Malvasía for you, which in 2019 has notes of white fruit and flowers and also an herbal/balsamic hint. The palate is mellow, with integrated acidity, the sapidity of the limestone soils, clean and focused flavors and a pleasant bitter twist. These whites ferment in barrel, where they mature for five months with batonnage, but none of the wines show aromas or flavors of oak. 2,680 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2020.

The 2018 Malvasía comes from a challenging year. All of these whites fermented in French oak barrels with neutral yeasts and aged in those barriques for some five months with the fine lees and batonnage. This is a variety that has larger grapes, and the larger 2018 crop means that the grapes have kept a good pH even of it doesn't have a lot of acidity. This is probably the gentlest wine, and it feels young and tender. Don't think of this as an aromatic white, as it's rather neutral and has a tendency to overproduce so that you have to control yields to get some concentration. Abel Mendoza tells me that he gets rid of the majority of bunches, and sometimes when the bunches are too large, he gets rid of the tip of the bunch. So, this is a more expressive wine than what Malvasía Riojana (a.k.a. Alarije in Extremadura and Subirat Parent in Penedès) delivers on its own. 3,444 bottles were filled in March 2019.

I tasted two vintages of the varietal white of Malvasía Riojana, which is none other than a grape known as Alarije, completely unrelated to the aromatic Malvasía from Madeira or the Greek Islands. 2017 was marked by frost followed by drought and vey low yields. The 2017 Malvasía was produced with healthy grapes that reached 13.5% alcohol after fermenting in French barriques with neutral yeasts. This is a more Mediterranean expression, with aromatic herbs, hay and straw, even esparto grass, with a tendency to give a honeyed note. 3,418 bottles were filled in March 2018.

The 2016 Malvasía is produced, like all the whites that name this grape in Rioja, with Malvasía Riojana, which is the same grape known as Alarije in Extremadura and Subirat Parent in Penedès. It's a variety that was almost abandoned because it's quite sensitive to botrytis. As with many of these scarce grapes, the bunches are picked from the individual plants in the old vineyards where there's always a field blend. All of these varietal whites are produced in a similar way, fermented in new French oak barrels where they stay for five months, yet oak aromas or flavors do not play a leading role in any of them. This is subtly floral and lightly perfumed with a balanced palate. It has some shy flavors, with moderate acidity and a good sense of harmony. A subtle white. 2016 saw good yields: 3,840 bottles were filled in March 2017.