From pre-phylloxera, 116-year-old vines
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2021 Vinas Murillo Verdejo Chapirete Prefiloxerico Rueda Spain 750 ml
Retail: $34 | ||
| $20 | 41% off | per bottle |
- Curated by unrivaled experts
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- Temperature controlled shipping options
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These Vines are National Treasures
Not a lot of Spanish Verdejo makes it to the US. In fact, not much leaves its home country, where it’s joyously consumed alongside gambas al ajillo and patatas bravas.
That’s why it’s incredibly unlikely that American buyers will ever see a wine like this one, which ranks among the most exciting Spanish white-wine discoveries we’ve ever made. A smaller, rarer expression made from national-treasure pre-phylloxera vines, we had to import it ourselves—we weren’t about to take any chances with a wine this special.
The grapes for the 2021 Chapirete Prefiloxerico are hand-harvested from the gnarled bushes of 116-year-old, pre-phylloxera vines bent so low to the ground, they seem to creep along the surface of the sandy, dry soils. Refreshed by an elevation of nearly 3,000 feet, the centenarian vines transmit an intensity, sophistication, and finesse that is truly remarkable.
Viñas Murillo is a relative newcomer on the scene in Rueda, but with familial roots that stretch back generations. Owners and brothers Alfonso Garcia Cano and José Antonio are following in the steps of their grandfather, known locally as Murillo. He was one of the last corredores in the region—individuals who acted as go-betweens for winegrowers and winemakers.
It was a role that afforded an intimate knowledge of the region’s best sites—something the latest generation has capitalized on, concentrating on ancient-vine vineyards like the one that produced this bottling. The village where these grapes hail from was the highlight of Ferran Centelles’s recent article on Verdejo. “Everything that was grown there enchanted me,” he wrote.