Venus la Universale Dido Blanco 2021

Venus la Universale Dido Blanco 2021

$27.99 on 3+ (code: 3saves2)
$29.99 reg

My Tasting Note: Medium golden hued.  The nose is med+ once it gets going with fresh primary and tertiary notes evoking the different aging methods in the component wines. A very complex nose and palate showed ripe citrus, orchard and stone fruits, with notes of dried citrus/orchard fruits, marcona almonds, ginger, and grapefruit peels, lashes of spices and minerality further complicate.  Med bodied on the palate, med/med+ acidity was pleasantly mouthwatering, with a long, complex finish.  Superb!

93WA (2020 - no 2021 score yet) - The white 2020 Dido Blanc was produced with a blend of Macabeo, Garnacha Blanca and Cartoixà (Xarel.lo) fermented in different containers, foudres, concrete and some barriques, where the wine also matured for around one year. They did a little more skin contact with the Macabeo, less than in 2018, with the limestone chalkiness and serious, stony sensations and with unnoticeable oak. They do as much white as they can, because they like the whites very much. It was bottled in February 2022.

Sara and Rene wanted to make a white Mediterranean local variety wine: Garnatxa Blanca, Macabeu and Cartoixà - voluptuousness allied with freshness, elegance, and uprightness is their goal and I think they nailed it here.
Grapes: 50% Macabeu, 40% Garnatxa Blanca and 10% Cartoixà (aka Xarel-lo)
Vineyard: Comes from three different plots in Marça and Falset. The first plot is a 70-year-old vineyard, located in the warmest area from the Montsant DO. The second one, 25 years old aged, with Garnatxa and Macabeu, located in Coll de Falset, a more vigorous and fresher area, to compensate warmth and density from the first plot grapes with a good acidity, low pH and spicy aromas. The other two Macabeu plots, aged more than 70 years old are located in colder areas in the border of the DOQ Priorat and they provide structure and ageing potential. All of them are growing on calcareous white chalky soils.
Vinification: A small part of the grapes is macerated with skin during 3/5 days in open containers to make the starter (pie de cuba) to get native yeast. Another 20% is macerated with skin during 24h to 15 days depending on the varietal and the extraction we want to reach. The rest goes straight to the press.
Maturation: It is aged for about 14 months initially in barrels of different volumes and in foudres (5000 and 2500 l) with fermentation lees. It is later blended in cement tanks to harmonize.