Winemaker Notes
The varieties are vinified separately and undergo malolactic in a mixture of oak and stainless steel. The final blend spends 10 months in French oak.
Blend: 74% Bobal, 16% Garnacha, 10% Syrah
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The red 2017 Mestizaje is a blend of all the varieties they work with—in this case, 74% Bobal, 16% Garnacha and 10% Syrah from head-pruned and dry-farmed vines. Each plot and variety fermented separately with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and/or oak vats, and the élevage was in a mixture of oak vats and French barrique and lasted ten months. It felt very harmonious, subtle and elegant. I think there has been a change in the wine since they started removing the French grapes and using larger oak containers. It respects the Mediterranean character of the grapes and the place.
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.