Winemaker Notes
‘Lalama’ is produced mostly from Mencía, although other indigenous varieties such as Mouratón, Sousón, Brancellao and Garnacha Tintorera lend extra shades of complexity. These are harvested from a variety of steep, terraced sites on both slate and clay. The grapes were destemmed, crushed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in large open-top wood vats, then raised in used barrels and further rested in vat for a total of around twenty months.
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.