Winemaker Notes
Its bouquet entails aromas of exotic and black fruits, with hints of underbrush and sweet spices that are complemented by a slight suggestion of green pepper. On the palate it is tasty and elegant, with a long finish. This wine is brimming with life, and is highly ageworthy. It faithfully reflects the variety's character.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 100% varietal grapes in the 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Pago Valdebellon come from a plot in the middle of the forest near the winery, one of the highest points on property. The limestone soils provide relatively high acid retention, and it shows. Varietal herbaceousness in the form of bell pepper and pyrazines decreases in the bottle as the wine opens. Fine tannins surround a medium-bodied core of blackberry, cedar, and cigar box.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The intensely varietal 2020 Pago Valdebellón has intense herbal notes, very much à la Médoc, balsamic and peppery, with ripe berry fruit, ripeness (14.3% alcohol) and freshness and a round palate with round and ripe tannins. It's velvety and fine, with moderate concentration and an ethereal quality. It has power and finesse. 7,431 bottles were filled in after the wine spent 16 months in barrels, 80% of them new, but it doesn't show oak aromas or flavors. Classical and for the long haul.
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Vinous
The 2020 Cabernet Sauvignon Valdebellón from Abadía Retuerta was aged 18 months in 75% new French and 25% second-use oak. Garnet in color, it opens with aromas of ash, roasted pepper, paprika and dark fruit over fine cedar. The palate is full-bodied and complex, with polished tannins and persistent toast on the finish.
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.