Winemaker Notes
The wine shows a pale red color with bluish highlights and offers aromas of white pear, red currant, forest floor, and subtle smoky notes, while the palate is dry and fresh with flavors of Sichuan pink pepper, salty nuances, and stone fruit.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A subtle yet energetic red with floral aromas. The palate is substantial, with tension and firm yet polished tannins. Love the combination of drinkability and subtle structure. This comes from a single old 1.18-hectare vineyard planted on slate soils. It’s a structured yet well-constructed wine that is delicious now but will surely improve with some bottle time.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 La Cerqueta is getting more and more elegant and less earthy than the past, with more floral notes and more red fruit. The single-vineyard Garnacha is from a 75-year-old dry-farmed and head-pruned plot of 1.18 hectares at 630 meters altitude on slate soils. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and 100% full clusters that were foot trodden in concrete and had a long maceration of 81 days, and it matured in oak foudres. It has 13.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.2 and 6.1 grams of acidity but comes through as a little riper than the La Tejera that I tasted next to it. It has a medium-bodied palate with abundant, fine-grained tannins and a slight earthiness.
Rating: 94+ -
Vinous
The 2022 Garnatxa La Cerqueta from Aragón originates from a vineyard with sandstone, limestone and slate soils. Aromas evoke vermouth, wildflowers, herbs, black fruit and a hint of apple skin. On the palate, stem tannins and chalky grip add texture to a fresh finish marked by herbs.
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.