La Banda del Argilico, Microbio 2023 (Rueda, Spain)

Here’s something you might not ever find again: a zero sulfur Verdejo from 140 yr old, pre-phylloxera vines that have never been grafted or sprayed. Named for the unique streaks of clay running through the sand of the vineyard, this Verdejo isn’t necessarily what you’d expect from a lower alcohol natural wine. What you have here is a wine with a lot of everything. Richly textured from half a year on the lees, with real body and complexity, it has aromas of tart tropical fruits and salted almonds bound up with a powerfully stony, mineral sensibility (like leaning down to the earth and putting your nose into the sandy soils), and fantastic acidity.