Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A new red wine, the 2012 Vermell is a blend of 40% Monastrell, 40% Garnacha Tintorera and 20% Mandó from lyre-pruned vines on sandy soils at 550 meters altitude. It was fermented in stainless-steel vats with indigenous yeasts and matured for four months in buried 2,600-liter terra-cotta amphorae. The nose is sharp, pure and elegant with great freshness, aromas of red berries, licorice, aromatic herbs and some of the telltale Monastrell notes of esparto grass. The palate is medium-bodied, precise and focused, though not terribly complex. It is really tasty with a lacy texture making it very easy to drink.
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.