Winemaker Notes
2006 was an exceptionally hot and dry year that resulted in wines with fluidity, fruit and warmth.
Rich, wild fruit mingling with mountain herbs and stoney components. Dense and rich with mineral and herbal notes on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Lalama, the product of an unusually hot and dry year, is 85% Mencia, 7% Garnacha, and the balance Brancellao and Mouraton fermented in 500-liter barrels and aged on the lees for 21 months. It offers up smoke, lavender, mineral, black cherry, and black raspberry aromas leading to a round, complex, smooth, and elegant wine with splendid balance and a lengthy, pure finish.
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Wine & Spirits
2006 Ribeira Sacra Lalama This Mencía's exotic purple fruit gains richness from new oak. It's dark and savory, with persimmon, pomegranate and a tropical note verging on pineapple; all the fruit keeps it supple, while the edges of tannin lend refinement. Decant it for roast duck.
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.