Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2013 saw a wet and cold growing season with harvest later than average for the young vines used in the 2013 Laderas de Sedella. It has a field blend of Romé, Garnacha, Jaén, Montua and Moscatel Romano, similar to the one found in the old vineyard used for its sibling Sedella. This is sourced from young vines from 0.9 hectares planted on slate soils, but in this case with a southern exposition. It was cropped form a wet and cooler, more continental vintage than 2012. The different varieties were picked and fermented together in stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts and then transferred to terracotta amphorae, egg-shaped cement vats and oak for malolactic and 13 months of ageing without being racked. There are plenty of aromas of beef blood, minerals, Mediterranean herbs and even flowers over the core of berry fruit. The palate shows fine-grained tannins and good balance. This is super. 3,148 bottles were filled in May 2015.
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.