Winemaker Notes
This wine displays blueberry, black cherry, and currant flavors with nuances of licorice, violets, and cigar box all wrapped together with a dash of vanilla and mocha. Medium to full-bodied, well-balanced, with soft tannins, this wine shows tremendous dimension, with a seamless finish that lingers throughout the palate. Pair with dishes more on the savory side, lamb, and roasted meats.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Clos Lojen was produced with Bobal from old head-pruned and dry-farmed vines on limestone, clay and rocky soils that fermented with full clusters in 4,500-liter oak vats and matured in a combination of 4,500-, 10,000- and 15,000-liter oak vats for six months. It's quite fruit-driven and has a moderate 12.5% alcohol and good freshness. It's an explosion of flowers, red berries and herbs with a medium-bodied palate with fine tannins and a tasty finish with complexity and balance, crunchy. A delicious bargain.
Bobal is enjoying a mini renaissance in Spain today as high-elevation vineyards in its homeland of Utiel-Requena produce dense and velvety wines dominated by dark berry and cocoa characteristics. However, its function as Spain’s second most planted red grape variety was once only for bulk wine and concentrate. Since it is drought-resistant, it does well grown as unirrigated bush vines and acts as a fine voice of terroir. Somm Secret—Bobal also shows great potential for rosé and sparkling wines because of its high levels of acidity and anthocyanins.
The Moors gave it the name, ‘Manxa,’ which fittingly means ‘parched earth.’ La Mancha, the largest Spanish wine producing region in all of Spain, is one of its hottest and driest. Sturdy and drought-resistant white varieietes like Airen, Viura and Verdejo thrive in this environment.