Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Deep and enticing nose of cherries, currants and raspberries. Full with a silky and juicy texture. Firm and tangy. Shows tension and interest. Drink now or hold.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Salia was born as a more accessible version of the Finca Sandoval, a blend with more Garnacha and Garnacha Tintorera, still with a majority of Syrah, and in recent years it adds a small percentage of the local Moravia Agria (5% in this 2011), a grape that has high acidity and provides good freshness in blends, especially in warm years like 2011. As all the wines here, it's fermented in open-top fiberglass vats with indigenous yeasts, pressed in a vertical basket press, aged for 11 months in used 300-liter oak barrels and bottled with low levels of sulfur. It is quite elegant, with aromas of blueberries, subtle black olives and smoked bacon and plenty of balsamic notes showing good balance. The medium to full-bodied palate is a little closed, has round tannins framing the juicy and tasty flavors. Still very young and undeveloped, it shows good balance and fresh acidity; it is primary but already drinkable. With time in the glass the meatiness of the Syrah dominates.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
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.