Winemaker Notes
#65 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
Deep cherry in color with aromatic bouquet of ripe red fruit. Spicy, mineral notes are memories of the barrel and slate soil where the vine grows. A fruity yet powerfully elegant wine on the palate. Bold tannins.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
A charming red, with appealing flavors of black cherry, cocoa and currant paste backed by elegant tannins. Elements of anise, tea and spice deliver complexity on the persistent finish. Drink now through 2029.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I found very intense toast aromas, notes of smoke and sweet spices in the nose of the top-of-the-range 2017 Atteca Armas, always a ripe, heady and impressively built Garnacha with a full body and plenty of everything, with a warm and long finish lifted by the alcohol. For fans of ripe, oaky Garnacha.
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.