Mano a Mano La Mancha 2011
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Wine Enthusiast
It’s almost absurd how good this $9 Tempranillo is. Full, clean, deep aromas of black fruits and licorice feed into an energetic yet generous palate with moderate richness. Flavors of black cherry, blackberry and pepper finish spicy but not pushy. What a deal!
Other Vintages
2009-
Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
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Robert
Parker
The sandy soils (up to 1 meter in depth) have an underlayment of large river stones, with a lot of iron, clay, and chalk. The vines produce very low yields of 1-2 kgs of grapes per vine. Winters are very cold; summers are hot with cool nights and it is a very arid climate.
The Spanish enologist, Rafael Cañizares seeks to achieve the maximum expression of the Tempranillo grape grown in this environment. After very careful vineyard selections, only the best vines of Tempranillo grapes are hand harvested.
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.