Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
This stunning custom cuvee from Eric Solomon was made with the help of Frenchman Jean-Marc Lafage. From granite soils around Spain’s Costa Brava, just two kilometers from the Mediterranean Sea, some of the grapes in this wine come from old vines dating back to 1900. The 2013 Garnacha Old Vines (100% Grenache aged four months in new and used French oak) boasts remarkable intensity as well as richness along with lots of strawberry, wild, briery mountain fruit and hints of spice, flowers, underbrush and Mediterranean herbs. The sweet tannin, medium to full-bodied mouthfeel and luscious personality have resulted in a gorgeous wine to enjoy over the next several years.
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.