Albillo is a catch-all name for a diverse collection of white grape varieties in Spain. Since the name derives from the Spanish word for white, Albillo can differ from region to region and can even be used for different varieties within a single D.O.! For example, in Ribera del Duero, several ancient varieties are called Albillo. Jorge makes it simple. He only selects Albillo with small clusters and a deep golden color when fully ripe to make his Blanco.
This is the Albillo Mayor from Ribera del Duero, unrelated to the other Albillo (Real, Criollo...) from vines that are over 100 years old, some ungrafted. The clusters were foot trodden, and the juice put in oak casks to ferment slowly with indigenous yeasts and without stirring the lees or anything, using minimum doses of sulfur. The wine matured in oak barrels for 35 months before it was hand bottled without being filtered or fined. This has a very Burgundian profile—it's aromatic, expressive, open, smoky, spicy and flinty. But this overdelivers for the adverse conditions of the harvest; it has very good balance and is tasty, intense and chalky.