Winemaker Notes
94 Points
"Glass-staining ruby. Finely etched raspberry, blackberry, floral and mineral aromas expand in the glass while retaining impressive clarity. Silky and sweet, with pinot-like red berry and cherry flavors, a seamless texture and a big jolt of smoky minerals on the back. Balances racy precision with great flavor impact, picking up Asian spices and candied rose with air. The very long finish repeats the red fruit and floral qualities with conviction. If only the current set of Australian wines from consulting winemaker Chris Ringland had even half the clarity and elegance of these." Josh Raynolds,
International Wine Cellar
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Even better (although you will pay dearly for the upgrade) is the flagship 2006 Aquilon. It offers a similar room-filling kinky perfume that is totally captivating. On the plush palate, gobs of pure black cherry and black raspberry fruit conceal the fact that this wine has enough ripe tannin to evolve for at least a decade. This hedonistic effort is impeccably balanced and should provide extreme pleasure from 2015 to 2030. The Alto Moncayo wines, from the up-and-coming DO of Campo de Borja, are produced from old-vine Garnacha with winemaking overseen by veteran vigneron Chris Ringland.
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.