92 pts
Morell-Peña 2017 Blanc de Blancs
Columbia Valley, Washington
Sparkling White wine from United States
Drinking window: 2018 - 2024
(12 grams per liter total acidity, according to Aryn Morell; fermented in a concrete egg): Pale green-tinged lemon-yellow. Penetrating aromas and flavors of lemon, lime and crushed stone. Offers extraordinary energy and verve to its extremely primary, pungent fruit flavors. As utterly dry and uncompromising as this wine is today, it avoids coming off as hard. This wonderfully ripe, chalky wine finishes with outstanding length and lift. A bit like an Avize blanc, it's carrying barely two grams per liter of residual sugar, which is totally erased by its high acidity. I'd love to come back to this wine in three or four years. (Full disclosure: Morell showed me hand-disgorged samples of this wine and the Blanc de Noirs in late June and subsequently bottled them with light sulfur additions; he will also continue to age a portion of both of these wines on their lees for a later disgorging.) (11.8% alcohol) -Stephen Tanzer. Tasting date: June 2018