This outstanding Spanish red is composed of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Merlot. The varietals are fermented separately in cement tanks and then blended and aged in a combination of 70% American casks and 30% French casks for one year before bottling. Once bottled, the wine is aged even more before being released. In his “View from the Cellar” review, John Gilman gave the wine 90 points and wrote, “The wine offers up a very complex nose of black cherries, dark berries, a touch of clove-like spice, cigar wrapper, a fine base of soil tones and a nice mix of both cedar and coconutty oak tones in the upper register. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a superb core of fruit, good transparency and grip, suave, buried tannins and a long, vibrant and classy finish. This is already starting to show some nice velvety textural elements on the attack and is quite Rioja-like (albeit not quite as elegant in profile). It is a ridiculously good value.” Drink it from 2020 to 2040+, he said. WAIT! 2040? This is a 20-year wine? For how much? $13.99? INSANE! So many great-tasting wines like this one are inexpensive because they’ll last only three or four years. Don’t pass this wine by!
