Winemaker Notes
Pago Negralada comes from a plot of Tempranillo, the noblest Spanish grape variety. The vines are planted in deep gravel soils intermixed with sand at the surface, and produce wines with a distinctive firm, tannic character.
Having aged 24 months in new French oak barrels, the wine has now developed its full potential. Its full ripeness comes to the fore with layers of fragrant strawberry fruit, liquorice, herbs and minerals with soft, silky tannins on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Despite cool conditions in 2013, this is a ripe, healthy Tempranillo. On the nose, wood grain, sawdust, clove and citrus notes are as prominent as berry aromas. The palate feels tight and racy, with pronounced acidity and strong tannins. Flavors of clove, peppery spice and raw oak sit on top of a bed of berry fruit, while a reprise of oak character drives the finish. Drink through 2025.
Cellar Selection -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I also tasted two vintages of the single vineyard Tempranillo, including the 2013 Pago Negralada, a plot at 760 meters altitude on deep gravel soils covered with sand. Vinification and aging is similar for most single vineyard bottlings, fermentation in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts with a relatively short maceration time (12 days), followed by malolactic and 18 months aging in new French oak barrels. 2013 was a more challenging vintage for the grape, and the wine shows some more notes from the élevage, from the toasty spectrum of aroma, than in other years. The palate is light to medium-bodied, with some dusty tannins and good freshness. There is less wine here than in 2014. 4,500 bottles and some larger formats were filled in July 2015.
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.