Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The first vintage of this red blend, the 1996 Cuvee El Palomar has a complex nose of iodine, brick dust, soy sauce and underbrush, reaching the limit of its life but staying in a plateau, holding onto the acidity. It has a beautiful and captivating nose, at times reminding me of an aged Burgundy more than a Bordeaux. It's sleek, elegant and polished. This was always an elegant red, produced with a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo from vines planted in 1991. It matured in French oak barrels for 18 months and has 13.5% alcohol. It was bottled in June 1998.
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James Suckling
A very well-aged and developed wine with aromas of cedar, old books, leather, savory mushrooms, peppercorns, vanilla and fading earthy fruit. Complete and still quite alive on the palate, with a medium body and fine, integrated tannins. Long, firm and velvety
The rebirth of a historic vineyard and of a whole winemaking tradition, the excellence of which remains intact, laid the foundations for today’s Abadía Retuerta winery. It now has over 30 years of history, as expert hands manage the vineyard by carefully looking after it and creating unique wines with their own Protected Designation of Origin.
Abadía Retuerta is a unique place where time stands still and feelings run high. Here, the past lives on in the present, and centuries of tradition and culture remain intact. It sits within an enclave bathed by the river Duero, which defines the traits of the surrounding terroir. Experts with great patience, know-how and anticipation really get the best out of the terrain: they respect the natural cycles and help the vines adapt to the austere climate of the region, in order to produce one of the estate’s most prized assets: its first-rate wine.
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.