Dehesa La Granja 2014
-
James
Suckling
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Licorice, vanilla and mulberry compote are all out on display here. There’s good, tangy acidity to the palate and bitter dark-chocolate notes, even though the tannin structure is not the most robust. Medium-bodied and edgy.
Other Vintages
2018-
James
Suckling -
Wilfred
Wong
-
James
Suckling
Known during the entire 20th century as "La Granja Valdeguareña de los Moleros", the 1800-acre ranch had been devoted by the Moleros brothers to the breeding of highly regarded fighting bulls, still in operation at the time of purchase. However, from the 17th through 19th centuries the estate had been a regionally-dominant producer of wine, evidenced by 40,000 square feet of cellars hand-carved by 125 laborers over 17 years. During that time the local wine producing area was known throughout Spain and Europe as Tierra del Vino (Land of Wine).
Alejandro rapidly set to work reconverting the estate to wine production, with 525 acres of old-clone Tempranillo planted by late 2000. House and ranch compound were renovated and a modern winemaking facility installed, directly over the 17th- century cellars. Meanwhile, Alejandro discovered plots of ungrafted old Tempranillo vines in the Guareña River Valley which have formed the basis for concentrated red wines beginning with the 1998 harvest.
As with Fernández wines in Ribera del Duero, the fully-extracted must undergoes malolactic fermentation in new oak, and a meticulous racking and aging program accomplishes a natural clarification. After two years in barrel, the 1998 vintage was bottled in November of 2000.
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.