2023 Carlos Sanchez Rioja Blanco "Bienlarm "Lagrimas Bellas"

Citrus, honeysuckle, and white flowers on the nose — complex and seductive, with exotic notes, lively acidity, and the lees character from 11 months in barrel showing on the close. The 2023 Carlos Sánchez "Bienlarmè Lágrimas Bellas" Blanco is biodynamically farmed Viura from old bush vines on limestone and clay in San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Labastida, Rioja Alta — fermented in stainless steel, aged on fine lees in barrel, unfined, unfiltered, around 1,800 bottles made, depending on the vintage. Carlos Sánchez trained as a teacher, then found his way to the vineyards of Sierra de Gredos, then to Rioja — where neighbors told him he had no idea what he was doing and you couldn't make wine the way he intended — and proceeded to prove every one of them wrong. "The plot, the vineyard, the oak barrels," he says. "This is more important than the grape." From a man who owns zero 225-liter barrels in a region defined by them, that's a statement worth tasting.