Mantel Blanco Verdejo
"This is exceptionally good Verdejo,….. There are several “exceptional” aspects to its excellence, including unusually impressive palate weight and a generously rounded mouthfeel." —
Michael Franz, Editor Wine Review Online
Grape(s)
100% Verdejo from estate grapes 30 years old from Pago de la Serna vineyard
Altitude/Soil
770 meters / alluvial soils composed of sand, clay and pebbles
Farming Methods
Traditional methods / Sustainable agriculture
Harvest
Machine-picked at night
Production
Grapes were destemmed and underwent an overnight cold maceration with skins prior to pressing, fermented in stainless steel tank
Aging
Aged for a few months on fine lees prior to bottling
Suggested Retail Price
$18
Mantel Blanco Verdejo
2020
93 (WRO) 90 (VM) 89 (VfC)
| 93 |
Wine Review Online |
This is exceptionally good Verdejo, a variety can make very refreshing but also characterful wines from the Rueda region in the northwest of Castilla y León. There are several “exceptional” aspects to its excellence, including unusually impressive palate weight and a generously rounded mouthfeel. Indeed, the sheer density of the wine and its vivid fruitiness made me wonder if there’s a bit of residual sugar left after the fermentation, but that is a question based on texture rather than any sugary flavor or aftertaste. Also impressive is the total absence of any sulfurous scents, which are evident in quite a few lesser examples of this wine category. This house also makes a stellar Sauvignon Blanc that is a bit more edgy; buy this if you favor a bit more richness.
Michael Franz - April 6, 2021 - "Today's Featured Wine" |
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| 90 |
Vinous Media |
Light, bright straw. Meyer lemon, melon, white peach and a hint of succulent herbs on the perfumed nose. Silky and energetic in the mouth, offering focused citrus and pit fruit flavors that show good depth and back-end cut. The floral quality repeats on a long, lively finish sharpened by a jolt of juicy acidity. 2021-2023
Josh Raynolds – July 6, 2021 Central Spain Additions |
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| 89 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2020 Verdejo “Sobre Lias” from Mantel Blanco is produced from thirty year-old vines and fermented and raised in stainless steel tanks. The wine offers up a ripe and vibrant bouquet of fresh lime, casaba melon, a lovely touch of green olive, a fine base of minerality, sea salts and a topnote of wild fennel. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with lovely mid-palate depth, fine focus and grip, good acids and a long, very nicely balanced finish. This is fairly ripe, as 2020 was a warm summer, so I would opt for drinking this over the next few years. It is also bottled under a synthetic cork of some brand, so it is probably better to enjoy it over the near-term. But, it will deliver plenty of enjoyment over the coming few years. 2021- 2024.
John Gilman - Issue #91 / February 2021 |
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Mantel Blanco Verdejo
2021
92 (WRO) 91+ (VfC) 89 (WE)
| 92 |
Wine Review Online |
This outstanding example of Verdejo from Rueda is showing beautifully at this point in early August of the year following when the grapes were harvested — which is exactly when we need outstanding Verdejo. At once opulent and racy, it combines impressive concentration and ripe (even tropical) fruit aromas and flavors, but they are very effectively counterbalanced by bright citrus notes and acidity. The effect is a bit uncanny, as it really shouldn’t be possible for a wine to be both opulent and racy, but tasting is believing. To be clear, this doesn’t have the palate weight of, say, Semillon, but it isn’t far off, and it isn’t as racy as Sauvignon Blanc (including that from this excellent producer), but again, it is close in that respect too. One more thing: I still had one bottle of this same wine from 2020 in my cellar, and cracked it to taste alongside this 2021. The 2020 is still delicious, and though I prefer the 2021 at this moment, the stability of the 2020 shows that you can buy the 2021 now and enjoy it for many months ahead — well past August and into oyster season when things turn cold again.
Michael Franz - August 2, 2022 |
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| 91+ |
View from the Cellar |
Mantel Blanco’s 2021 Verdejo “Sobre Lías” is also a terrific wine, with loads of complexity on both the nose and palate, but not quite the same flashiness of the estate’s sauvignon blanc bottling. The deep and complex bouquet offers up scents of pear, white lilies, salty soil tones, raw almond, green olive and wild fennel. On the palate the wine is vibrant, full bodied and impeccably balanced, with a good core, fine focus and grip and a long, zesty finish.This is a lovely bottle of Verdejo that has the capacity to gain complexity with some bottle age.2022-2030.
John Gilman – Issue #98 March/April 2022 |
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| 89 |
Wine Enthusiast |
Very pale in color with soft green highlights, this wine offers a bouquet of papaya and lychee. It has flavors of pineapple, ripe nectarine and white flowers with a splash of Valencia orange on the finish.
M.D. – June/July 2022 |
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Mantel Blanco Verdejo
2022
92 (WRO) 89 (VfC)
| 92 |
Wine Review Online |
This is superb Verdejo, complete and fully ready to enjoy either as an aperitif or a table wine. It is lightly herbal and citrusy, in keeping with the variety’s tendencies. Displaying fine concentration, it zig-zags between seeming medium-bodied when first tasted on its own, but then lighter as the acidity kicks in during the persistent finish — but then seeming more powerful again when tried with food. Zesty and fresh, but also offering layered aromas and flavors that keep this from seeming simple, this delivers everything delivered by Pinot Grigio — plus a lot more, and at a comparable price.
Michael Franz - August 22, 2023 |
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| 89 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2022 Verdejo Mantel Blanco bottling is made from vines that are thirty years of age, with the grapes picked at night to keep acidities as bright as possible. The 2022 version is lovely aromatically, wafting from the glass in a mix of tart pear, green olive, fresh lime, a pretty base of soil tones, a touch of damp grass and a topnote of white flowers. On the palate the wine is bright, fullish and zesty, with a good core, nice soil undertow and grip, fine focus and a long, fairly complex finish. I always think of Verdejo from Rueda as Spain’s version of Sancerre and this pretty 2022 from Montel Blanco is certainly in that style. Good honest juice. 2023-2029.
John Gilman - Issue #103 - January/February 2023. |
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Mantel Blanco Verdejo
2023
92 (TA) 90 (VfC)
| 92 |
Tim Atkin MW |
The Verdejo for Mantel Blanco comes from the estate’s own vineyards in Pago de la Serna at
770m, all managed sustainably. Vinified in stainless steel, it is a fresh and lively Verdejo but
with some concentration and palate weight from an extended time on lees. It is a very pure
expression of both the stony nature of the vineyard and the variety with intense grassy notes
and zippy citrus fruits. 2024-27
Tim Atkin 92 - March 2023 |
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| 90 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2023 Verdejo Mantel Blanco bottling is crafted from older vines, as these vineyards are now more than thirty years-old and the grapes are again, picked at night to keep up acidity levels. The wine offers up a lovely nose of gooseberry, limepeel, salty soil tones, orange blossoms and a topnote of gentle grassiness. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a good core, lovely soil inflection and grip, a fine girdle of acidity and a long, poised and very nicely balanced finish. I always think of Rueda Verdejo as the Sancerre of Spain and this certainly seems like an appropriate moniker for the lovely 2023 Mantel Blanco bottling. 2024- 2030.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024 |
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