Winemaker Notes
Pairs well with rice, pasta, (noodles, spaghetti, macaroni), vegetables, mushrooms, stewed meat, sausage, pork, roast meat, red and/or white meat with sauces, grilled meat, and short or mediumcheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I also tasted two vintages from the mid range produced with Garnacha grapes from vines averaging 60 years of age and matured in French oak barrels for some 10 months, the freshest of which was the 2016 Atteca, perhaps from a lighter vintage than the more concentrated 2017. The wine is now polished and feels à point, with a combination of ripe fruit and sweet spices that would make it approachable to a wide segment of consumers. It's nicely crafted and highly drinkable.
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.