Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Seleccion Familiar was sourced from 70-90 year old vines and aged for 18 months in new, mostly French oak. Aromas of underbrush, brier, balsamic, boysenberry, and earthy minerals inform the nose of a wine with exceptional finesse, intensity, and proportion. Give this lengthy effort 3-4 years to fully blossom and drink it from 2013 to 2021.
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Wine Spectator
A thick texture carries plum, coffee, orange peel and spice flavors in this ripe red. The tannins are firm and a bit coarse, giving this version a slightly rustic character. Shows concentration and character.
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.