Winemaker Notes
A bold fruit-forward palate, with fresh acidity and silky tannins gives the wine structure, wideness and depth. With a perfect balance between elegance and power, Dalmau expresses the awesome personality of the vineyard it comes from.
Blend: 82% Tempranillo, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon, 6% Graciano
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A fabulous modern expression of Rioja showing complexity, depth, structure and brightness. Grilled spices, cloves, anise, cocoa powder, sandalwood, blackberries, blueberries and dark plums. Naturally concentrated and full-bodied, but really vibrant and fluid, followed by firm tannins and a long, juicy finish. The wine seems to be less extracted this year, which is crucial to keeping the harmony. Already drinkable, but this will become more appealing in the next few years. Will age effortlessly.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2020 Dalmau Reserva was produced with a blend of 82% Tempranillo, 12% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Graciano from Pago Canajas within the Ygay estate, nine hectares planted in 1950 on red stony soils where they seek low yields to achieve concentration. It's a powerful red, with 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.45 and six grams of acidity. The varieties were destemmed, then fermented separately in 13,900-liter oak vats with pumping over and délestage. The Tempranillo was picked on the 24th of September and the others on the 27th. They also matured separately in French oak barrels for 17 months, then blended and put in concrete for another 13 months, something that started in 2019 and continued, for even a longer time in 2020. This vintage continues the change towards freshness and elegance that I saw in 2019 but takes it even further. The wine is beautifully perfumed, floral and elegant, refined, clean, expressive and showy. It has a very subtle balsamic twist, a very harmonious and balanced palate and velvety tannins, superbly crafted. This has freshness and balance like I have never seen in Dalmau before. Bravo! It's approachable already and should continue evolving in bottle for a long time too. 14,962 bottles, 900 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in May 2023.
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Decanter
Deep, plummy nose with a zesty twist adding unexpected freshness. Lively tannins, with minerality and lively spice. It's intensely broody yet unpretentious and relaxed, flowing in the mouth. Great complexity, matched by drinkability.
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Vinous
The 2020 Dalmau Pago de Canajas blends Tempranillo and Graciano with 12% Cabernet Sauvignon from Rioja Alta. This aged for 22 months. Aromatically layered, with camphor, menthol, balsamic herbs, cedar, cassis and deep black fruit, it's plush in feel with an energetic core and bold structure. The concentrated fruit and oak styling lean toward the New World, but the freshness reins in the overall profile. The 2020 is complex and modern.
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Wine Spectator
This sleek racehorse of a wine is tightly meshed today but opens nicely in the glass, layering a fragrant overtone of spice box, incense, cured tobacco and tar notes with pureed mulberry, orange peel, red licorice and vanilla flavors. Shows good length and focus, structured by dense, fine-grained tannins that are deftly knit to the aromatic profile. Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Graciano. Best from 2027 through 2035.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.