Contreras Ruiz, Clavellina Rosado, DO Condado de Huelva, Spain, 2024

Producer Profile

Next to the National Park of Donana, an area of preserved natural beauty, Bodegas Contreras Ruiz champions the rich, full bodied Zalema grape.

Located in the deep south of Spain, on the Atlantic coast close to Portugal, this is the perfect site to grow this local variety organically. Their goal is to make complex wines, where this single grape variety is expressed in different ways according to site and soil.

Viticulture

The DO COndado de Huelva features flat to gently rolling terrain with neutral to slightly alkaline, loamy soils of average fertility which is ideal for viticulture. Its Mediterranean climate, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, offers mild winters, warm summers, and about 3,000 hours of sunshine annually, creating optimal conditions for grape cultivation The soils here are chalky and the vineyard the fruit comes from is around 15 years old/ An intensive berry selection is done in the vineyard to reach a yield of 7,000kg per hectare.

Winemaking

Macerated on the skins to get the colour, then the must is extracted after alcoholic fermentation and rested on the fine lees until bottling.

Tasting Note

Pale salmon-pink colour, red berries on the nose. Surprisingly weighty and fleshy and well structured despite its youth with excellent balance between freshness and persistence.

Food Matching

Salads, rice, pasta, seafood, vegetables, white and red meats.