Winemaker Notes
Alaya Tierra is sourced from 55 year-old estate vines of Garnacha Tintorera (also known as Alicante Bouschet) planted at 3,200 feet above sea level with extremely low yields. Garnacha Tintorera’s small, intensely colored berries lend to a deeply colored and layered richness. The wine is fermented in small stainless steel vats and then aged for 15 months in French oak with a small proportion aging in American oak. The wine is densely pigmented with an intense cherry red. Aromatic complexity from very ripe black and red fruits, earthy minerality, and notes of new oak. Broad, powerful, and dense, with a silky texture, balanced acidity and sweetness on the very long finish.
Vegan-Friendly
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Alaya Tierra from 50+-year-old vines at 1,000 meters above sea level matured in new French barriques for 15 months. This is dark and concentrated, a powerful red with notes of prunes and dates, black olives and ripe tomato, hinting at over-ripeness, a little earthy and with smoky and toasty notes. It's ripe and powerful at 15% alcohol but with good acidity and abundant tannins. This also has some residual sugar, but again, it goes unnoticed. This wine will require time and/or powerful food.
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.