Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2013 Tres Picos is the bodegas top cuvée of 100% Grenache from older, head-pruned vines planted on the hillsides of the Moncayo Mountains. Yields were less than two tons of fruit per acre. This was the first of the Grenaches to spend some time in a combination of older French oak barrels (for 10 months) as well as stainless steel. There are 6,000 cases of this outstanding wine. Its dense ruby/purple-tinged color is followed by notes of kirsch liqueur, licorice, pepper and spice box, and a medium to full-bodied, richly fruity, sensual wine with beautiful finesse, complexity and purity. Sometimes Grenache can take on a complex, Pinot Noir-like sensitivity, and this cuvée appears to have done that. Consumers should take advantage of these lovely wines offered at ridiculously low prices.
Spanish red wine is known for being bold, heady, rustic and age-worthy, Spain is truly a one-of-a-kind wine-producing nation. A great majority of the country is hot, arid and drought-ridden, and since irrigation has only been recently introduced and (controversially) accepted, viticulture has sustained—and flourished—only through a great understanding of Spain’s particular conditions. Large spacing between vines allows each enough resources to survive and as a result, the country has the most acreage under vine compared to any other country, but is usually third in production.
Of the Spanish red wines, the most planted and respected grape variety is Tempranillo, the star of Spain’s Rioja and Ribera del Duero regions. Priorat specializes in bold red blends, Jumilla has gained global recognition for its single varietal Monastrell and Utiel-Requena has garnered recent attention for its reds made of Bobal.