El Desnudado Palomino 2022

El Desnudado is a dry, fresh and intriguing wine made from 100% Palomino in Cadiz, Southwest Spain. The wine has a distinct saline, nutty, ocean breeze quality along with ripe lemon fruit, orchard fruit and delicate floral aromas. The wine is made by Francisco Asencio of Dominio del Urogallo who has a small boutique Sherry operation based in Sanlucar de Barrameda, the home of Manzanilla. The idea of the wine, as the name suggests, is to strip the Palomino grape away from everything associated with Sherry from the fortification, extended ageing and protective Flor to let the grape and terroir sing. It is a unique, delicate and delicious wine.

Dominio del Urogallo is a small biodynamic winery based in the lush, green region of Asturias in northwest Spain. It is owned and run by the larger-than-life Francisco Asencio who skilfully crafts some of the most unique wines I’ve tried from Spain. The production is centred around the native varieties of Albarin, Albillo, Carrasquin, Verdejo Negro, Albarino Negro and Mencia which, I must be honest, most I’d never heard of before meeting Francisco. The winery has 13 hectares of vineyards split between the two regions of Cangas del Narcea and El Bierzo. This is a mountainous area on slate and quartz soils which is influenced by a maritime climate. It is ideally situated to produce fresh, coastal influenced wines. As I type, the region of Asturias does not have D.O. status although there is a strong voice calling for its introduction and on tasting Fran’s wines, you can see why.