Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Their least-expensive wine, and one qualifying for this report, is the 2013 Alto Moncayo Veraton, aged in 60% new French oak and 40% new American oak for 17 months and bottled without filtration. This is a blockbuster, 100 % Old Vine Grenache cuvée, with a deep-purple color, great intensity, loads of blackcurrant and black cherry fruit, with licorice, lavender and touch of graphite and earth. It is full-bodied and powerful and I suspect tips the scales at at least 14%-14.5% alcohol. This should drink well for 5-6 years, possibly a lot longer.
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Wine Spectator
Ripe cranberry and boysenberry flavors mingle with vanilla, licorice and toast notes in this expressive red. The plush texture is supported by light, firm tannins and lively acidity. Drink now through 2020.
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.