Winemaker Notes
Fermentation and post fermentation in egg shape barrels from Austria of 1,500 liter capacity of French oak. Battonage during 12 months.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 El Pecado is 100% Mencia from Ribera Sacra and received the same elevage as the two preceding wines. It offers up exotic, kinky aromas of mineral, incense, Asian spices, lavender, boysenberry, cranberry, and black raspberry. On the palate it is satin-textured, intense, complex, and stylish. It will continue to blossom for several years and drink well for 10-15.
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Wine & Spirits
Here's where mencía hits; in the words of one taster, "I want a patent on that aroma; it's super sick." That scent has the same feel as the ozone after a spring rain, or the air around ferns and conifers at the base of a waterfall. That forest floor character continues into the juicy wild cherry flavor and the black, earthy tannins of the wine. Its fragrance only extends with air, lasting for minutes.
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.