Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
A huge load with sophistication and style to go with tons of raw power. Tobacco, balsam wood and pure blackberry aromas are stylish and enticing. Shows body and structure on the palate along with black fruit, mocha, chocolate and toast flavors. Long and heavenly on the finish. Drink now through 2015.
Editors' Choice -
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Aquilon, from a relatively cool and late growing season, starts off with some reductive aromas.. This vintage feels quite different to the others, and is one of the leanest years with only 2,280 bottles produced. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with higher acidity and freshness, but the fruit seems to be drying out a little, so I'd opt for drinking this on the earlier side.
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.