Bilaire Blanco 2024

A barrel-aged white from a grape too stubborn to go extinct.

Ben: Merseguera nearly disappeared because it's stubborn — slow to ripen, gives the grower almost nothing. A family winery in the hills behind Alicante grows it at 600 metres in old bush vines, ferments it cool and gives it a few months of barrel. You rarely see this grape on its own.

In your glass: Middle weight for a white — those barrel months round it out — with a fresh, citrus-edged finish that ends dry. It's the quiet kind of interesting: a nearly extinct grape doing steady weeknight work. Pick it as the weeknight default that still gives you something to notice; if you're after loud and tropical, this one stays quiet.

Serve it: An hour in the fridge.

You’ll probably love it if: Your weeknight white should cost little and still have something to say — from a grape too stubborn to go extinct.

Skip it if: Want wilder and sharper → What Time Is Too Late To Go To Bed (€19.50). Want a red at the same money → the red Bilaire.