Finca Antigua Tempranillo 2013
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Ruby-red with garnet highlights, this wine shows the aromas typical to La Mancha: black cherries, raspberries, strawberry jam, and spices. However, underneath those aromas, pervasive minerality and spiciness add to the complexity of this delicious wine. On the palate, crisp acidity, smooth tannins, and a moderate to full body give this wine great structure and ultimate age worthiness.
Pair this wine with jamón serrano, Paellas Valenciana and Morisco, as well as filet mignon served with Hollandaise sauce.
Finca Antigua was established in 2003 by brother-and-sister team Carlos and Pilar Martínez-Bujanda Irribarria, whose family has been making wine since 1889. The vision of Finca Antigua is to create a facility that balances wine styles with the latest technologies, while always respecting the family’s enduring, time-honored winemaking traditions. At sharp contrast with the fresh, bucolic landscape, stands a structure of steel, stone and cement housing the equipment used to transform Finca Antigua harvests into spectacular wines. The estate is located on a prime parcel of land between the provinces of Cuenca and Toledo in DO La Mancha. The high altitude, soil of loam and limestone, and climate fluctuations from hot days to cool nights endow the vineyard with optimal growing conditions. A number of indigenous and international varieties thrive in the soil, the majority being Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo; but Syrah, Petit Verdot, Chardonnay, Graciano, Viura, Gewurztraminer, and Moscatel are also grown. The vineyards are marked by a multitude of old vines for which the property is named. All Finca Antigua wines are estate-grown and bottled. Although the 21st century has brought modernization and automation to the winemaking process, the mission of the Familia Martínez-Bujanda has always remained true to the original intent of Joaquín Martínez-Bujanda from over a century ago: Control of the vineyards is essential to making complex wines. Each generation has sought to best utilize each location, taking into account the altitude, microclimate, soil and characteristics unique to each terroir, to create wines that capture its essence. They continue to nourish the vineyards with organic matter and employ modern and traditional winemaking techniques to produce the best-quality wine possible from each parcel.
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.
The Moors gave it the name, ‘Manxa,’ which fittingly means ‘parched earth.’ La Mancha, the largest Spanish wine producing region in all of Spain, is one of its hottest and driest. Sturdy and drought-resistant white varieietes like Airen, Viura and Verdejo thrive in this environment.