This week, Toni Sarrión unveiled his new product ‘Pela Roques white 2022’ and the new vintage of his successful Mestizaje blanco together with Miguel Donat from Voravins at ‘Mi Cub’, the coolest place to enjoy the best wines of the Valencian Community in the Mercado de Colón.

Both creations come from the vineyards that Bodega Mustiguillo has at an altitude of 900 metres above sea level in Finca Calvestra located in Requena, with its own vines in goblet and trellised vines in strict dry farming and on limestone soil with a sandy loam texture.

The name Pela Roques, as Sarrión explained, “is the name of a Mediterranean bird that looks for food among the rocks and limestone soils, and it is similar to our project because we are always digging holes in the ground to look for great wines and we felt that we have a similar philosophy”.

The CEO of Mustiguillo also explained that Pela Roques is his new line of wines and also described it as the most “geeky or risky” because of the type of grape and the way the wine is made. On the one hand, it is the first time that his winery has fermented a white wine with the skins. “It is an old technique in the Valencian Community, in the Anglo-Saxon world it is called skin contact, and although the weight in the mouth is greater, it is very well balanced, and it is a unique, interesting and attractive wine”. On the other hand, the grapes come from a marl soil where there is Xarel.lo and from a soil in Finca Calvestra where there is Merseguera. Two estates at an altitude of 900 metres, which is unusual. “The idea came from the coupage in the winery, because we thought that blending these two soils and varieties would reflect the Mediterranean and freshness very well,” explained Toni Sarrión.

There is already a red Pela Roques that came out in ’19 after much research and for Sarrión it can be described as “a spin off of the classic Mustiguillo line but it could be placed between the Mestizajes and the Finca Terrerazo”. In the end, the white wine has emerged from the Merseguera and Xarel.lo varieties that make up its blend, highlighting its fermentation with indigenous yeasts and skins for 15 days in stainless steel tanks and final fermentation in 500-litre acacia barrels.

Of a subtle golden colour, limpid and brilliant, in nose we find delicate touches of the fermentation skins, together with other citric and floral notes. In the mouth it is a wine that surprises for the combination between the elaboration process and the place of origin, fresh, balanced and with good persistence.

Mestizaje is already a Mustiguillo classic that never ceases to surprise with each vintage, although they try to harvest the grapes earlier to maintain freshness. As in previous vintages, the blend is made from the Merseguera, Malvasía, Viognié and Xarel.lo varieties to achieve a wine with a straw yellow colour, clear and bright, with great aromatic intensity and a predominance of stone fruits. Even so, on this occasion, they have reduced the amount of Xarel.lo because, as they explained, they reduce the amount of Xarel.lo in the blending each year because Viognié is more alcoholic. According to Sarrión “everyone thinks it is a formula, but it is not, it is a wine that we interpret every year and we try to show an improvement in the bottle, as well as acclimatising to climate change to achieve a wine that is fresher and better every day”.

Report by ‘24/7 Valencia’ team

Article copyright ’24/7 Valencia’

Photo: Miguel Donat, Alicia Silvestre, Anabel Navas  Toni Sarrión y Paco Vall

‘Mi Cub’

Mercat de Colón

Carrer de Jorge Juan, 19

L’Eixample

46004

Valencia