Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The perfect Mediterranean vintage of 2020 delivered a 2020 Alaya Tierra that is very complete and powerful in its style, but with balance and depth and the clout to take the 15 months in new barriques. The wines from 2020 have more acidity and are a little less concentrated and especially balanced. This has 15% alcohol (the 2018 and 2018 had 15.5% and the 2017 had 16%). It has a little more balance and freshness, and despite the fact that the wine is very young and still marked by the élevage in barrel, it should come around with a little more time in bottle. A powerful, full-bodied, full-throttle Garnacha Tintorera.
Rating:92+
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.