I often criticise our monopoly, Alko, for its horrible and limited selection. On the surface it may seem like a wide selection with thousands of different labels. But I've often liked to slightly misquote Stravinsky on Vivaldi ("Vivaldi didn't write 600 concertos! He wrote one concerto 600 times!") when it comes to Alko's selections: they don't have 2500 wines; they have one wine with 2500 labels. But I have to be honest that there are a handful of perfectly enjoyable wines at not exorbitant prices. This Verdejo is one I have enjoyed over several vintages and I would argue that it is still good value even now that it's gone up to c.13€. (And that's actually not too bad a price when I did a quick comparison - yes you can get it cheaper, but this isn't highway robbery from Alko for once.)
José Pariente Verdejo 2015 - 13% abv; c.13€
Why do many people insist on writing about this wine as if it were neutral in aromatics? Maybe I drink too much Muscadet but I did not find this neutral. There is an intense fresh pear aroma that I really like - I should perhaps stress that it's not at all like the cold ferment pear drop aroma but something very sniffable. That fresh fruit aroma mixed with a herbaceous quality makes this a very friendly and fun wine, especially since all this fun follows perfectly seamlessly and logically onto the palate. It is fairly big and concentrated with lots of dense, sweet fruit but has a really nice electric current of acidity running through it all. And on the finish there's an attractive, slightly herbaceous bitterness. I probably make it sound more complex than it really is, but the point I'm trying to make is that it is genuinely interesting and it is a lot of fun and it makes me happy. You can't really ask for much more than that.