Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Deep berry aromas blend with sweet, creamy, spicy oak notes on the nose of this cellar-worthy bruiser, which is live-wire, energetic and holding a lot in reserve. A full allotment of oak-driven flavors include coffee, mocha, pepper, baked berry and chocolate. On the finish, it's huge and tastes of toast, medicinal berry and chocolate-drenched cherries. Drink from 2015–2025. Cellar Selection.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Malleolus is, like all their wines, 100% Tempranillo. The grapes fermented in stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts and malolactic was in French oak barriques where the wine then aged for 18 months. Malleolus is the Latin word for majuelo, which in Spanish means small plot of vines. It has a balsamic nose of cigar ash and incense, raspberry leaf and a mixture of red and black berries, quite showy, in a commercial, well-oaked style. The palate is medium-bodied with abundant, grainy, dusty tannins. Good stuffing (but less than the regular Emilio Moro 2011), and for what they tell me the 2011 will be even better. 100,000 bottles produced. Drink 2015-2020.
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Wine & Spirits
Richly oaked in an international style, this wine’s chocolate and ripe red fruit notes give it an opulent feel. Malleolus is a blend from vineyards with vines between 25 and 80 years of age.
Notoriously food-friendly, long-lasting and Spain’s most widely planted grape, Tempranillo is the star variety of red wines from Rioja and Ribera del Duero. The Rioja terms Joven, Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva indicate both barrel and bottle time before release. Traditionally blended in Rioja with Garnacha, plus a bit of Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano, the Tempranillo in Ribera del Duero typically stands alone. Somm Secret—Tempranillo claims many different names depending on location. In Penedès, it is called Ull de Llebre and in Valdepeñas, goes by Cencibel. Known as Tinta Roriz in Portugal, Tempranillo plays an important role in Port wine.
Ribera del Duero, Spanish wine region, is located in northen Spain’s Castilla y León region, just a 2-hour drive from Madrid. While winemaking in this area goes back more than 2000 years, it was in the 1980s that 9 wineries applied for and were granted Denominación de Origen (D.O.) status. Today, more than 300 wineries call Ribera del Duero home, including some of Spain’s most iconic names.
Notable Facts Ribera’s main grape variety, Tempranillo, locally know as Tinto Fino, is perfectly suited to the extreme climate of the region, where it must survive scorching summers and frigid winters. Low yields resulting from conscientious tending to old vines planted in Ribera’s diverse soils types, give Ribera wines a distinctive depth and complexity not found in other Tempranillos. Rich and full-bodied, the spice, dark fruit and smoky flavors in a bold Ribera del Duero will pair well with roasted and grilled meats, Mexican food and tomato-based sauces.