Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The outstanding 2012 Tarima Hill is 100% old-vine Mourvèdre from a vineyard planted between 1935 and 1970, whose vines are largely ungrafted. It was aged 20 months in French oak. This is a beautifully balanced wine revealing lots of blueberry liqueur, dark raspberries, cherries, a chalky minerality, full body, a big, substantial mouthfeel, and a meaty texture. Drink now-2019.
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Wine Enthusiast
Punchy black-cherry and plum aromas are dry, earthy and toasty, with stony minerality and crispness. This is a full, lively, generous Monastrell offering blackberry, spiced cake and chocolate flavors over a dark, coffee-laden finish that goes the distance. Drink through 2018.
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Wine Spectator
Rich yet harmonious, this polished red delivers a core of black cherry and cassis framed with smoke, mineral, licorice and espresso notes. Juicy acidity and well-integrated tannins give this structure. A modern style. Drink now through 2022. Top Value Pick
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.