Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This offering is produced just outside the appellation of Ribera del Duero from 100% Tempranillo, barrel-fermented, and bottled with minimal clarification. The dense purple-colored 1996 Vendimia Seleccionada exhibits a sweet bouquet of black cherries, toasty new oak, licorice, and smoke.
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Wine Spectator
Suave yet intense, this alluring red marries a velvety texture with focused flavors of blackberry, cassis and bitter chocolate. The tannins are firm yet well-integrated, the toasty oak and clean acidity balanced and harmonious.
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.