Albariza: those fantastic white fossil soils I spoke extensively about last Friday when describing
Lumière by
Alejandro Muchada and
David Léclapart.
But in the Sherry region, not all terroirs are made up of albariza. The soils closest to the beaches are, as beaches usually are, sandy soils. And that is a completely different story.
The vineyards planted on these soils are among the rarest and are mainly found around the town of Chipiona. These sandy soils contain very little limestone and retain water very poorly, unlike albariza soils. The vines therefore need to root extremely deep to find water. In addition, the grapes ripen much faster here, as sand absorbs a lot of heat during the day and releases it again at night.
The exact opposite of what albariza is capable of!
These sandy soils are also much younger and geologically belong almost to our own era. They were mainly formed during the Holocene, over the last 11,000 years. More than a century ago, these were also
the only soils able to resist phylloxera. The insects simply cannot dig through loose sand.
The typical Palomino grape used for the top wine Lumière cannot grow here. There is only one grape variety that truly thrives on these sandy soils: Moscatel. Historically, and still today, it is mainly used for sweet wines.
If you would like to taste these fantastic and original Moscatel Soleado Sherries, feel free to take a look
here:
fantastic and original dessert wines!But today, I do not want to talk about these historic Moscatel Soleados.
No, today it is all about the little brother of the saline Lumière: Élixir.
Élixir is a dry wine, made according to the same principles as Lumière, but based on Moscatel grown on the sandy soils around Chipiona. Thanks to the nearby sea, this Élixir retains its saline character, beautifully combined with the exotic, fruity and creamy side of the Moscatel.
Élixir is in fact the perfect wine to introduce yourself to the unique wines of Muchada-Léclapart: less extreme and less saline than Lumière, yet still showing all of its characteristics, only in a more approachable way. In the glass, the perfumed and fruity aromas clearly take the lead.
But honestly, the best option is not to choose: this summer, you are better off having both in your cellar 😉.
The advantage of Élixir is that we still have a small quantity of the 2022 available, while the 2024 has already arrived in stock.
Only 60 bottles of each vintage remain available.
So either way, you will have to be quick… 😉