Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I also tasted the 2012 Quest, a fresher wine than the 2011 (despite the very warm and dry growing season), which was only bottled one week prior to my tasting. It’s a deep purple-colored effort, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot and Merlot which aged in barrel for 12 months. It has aromas of properly ripe fruit, with bare hints of peppery aromas and plenty of cassis, pencil shavings and graphite notes, surprisingly balanced for a just-bottled wine. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine-grained, dusty tannins, very Bordeaux-like texture with a somehow Mediterranean juiciness. Drink 2015-2020.
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.