Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2014 Finca Meixeman is the only vintage I tasted of this single vineyard red from a 70-year-old vineyard planted (in the 1940s) with a Mencia-based field blend that also includes a myriad of other varieties that make up some 20% of the total volume—Caíno, Souson, Brancellao, Merenzao (Trousseau), Negreda, Garnacha Tintorera or Mouratón. The soils have schist, but there's also a part of granite. It fermented in closed oak foudres with some 55% full clusters with long macerations; it was then pressed, kept for five months in the 5,000-liter foudres and then transferred to 225- and 500-liter oak barrels to complete some 18 to 20 months élevage, so this is always bottled later. They are still using some of the first barrels, and the oak is quite neutral. 2014 is a very balanced vintage, and the wine is subtle and elegant within the natural power of the zone. This is a very balanced wine year in, year out, as there are different expositions and soils in the vineyard—one warmer and the other one cooler—and they tend to compensate each other in both cool and warmer years. But, this 2014 was showing particularly well, spicy and tasty. There were some 5,000 bottles of this 2015. It was bottled in June 2016.
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.