# Brutal Orange (2022)

- **Producer:** Microbio
- **Colour:** orange
- **Type:** still
- **Grapes:** Verdejo
- **Region:** Castilla y León, Spain
- **Style:** Natural
- **Alcohol:** 13.5%
- **Average price:** €26
- **Vegan:** Yes
- **Contains sulphites:** No
- **When to drink:** Now or Later
- **Serving temperature:** 10–12 °C
- **Aromas & flavours:** quince, orange, herbaceous, fennel, cedar, resinous, hazelnut, almond, hay

## About this wine

Microbio Wines is led by Ismael Gozalo, a fifth-generation winegrower and pioneer in Spanish natural winemaking based in Nieva, Segovia. Operating from an ancient monastery cellar, Gozalo works with pre-phylloxera, ungrafted bush vines planted in sandy soils at 800 to 900 meters elevation. The Brutal series represents an international collaboration between leading natural winemakers to produce experimental, zero-additive cuvées.

## Interesting facts

- Made from ancient, pre-phylloxera ungrafted bush vines between 100 and 200 years old.
- Part of the global Brutal movement, a collaborative project among natural winemakers.
- Produced in an ancient cellar originally constructed by monks in Nieva, Segovia.

## Food pairing

The phenolic skin grip, vibrant acidity, and aromatic complexity of skin-contact Verdejo make it ideally suited to rich, fatty pork dishes, aged sheep's milk cheeses, and savory dishes with warm spices or smoked paprika. The wine's structural texture cuts through richness while standing up to bold Mediterranean and North African spice profiles.

## Wine making process

Crafted from 100 to 200-year-old Verdejo vines, 75% whole-cluster and 25% destemmed grapes undergo extended skin maceration lasting from four weeks to several months. Fermentation occurs spontaneously with indigenous yeasts without added temperature control or chemicals. The wine is aged for 12 months in French oak barrels and clay tinajas before being bottled unfined, unfiltered, and with no added sulfites.