Senorio de Barahonda Barrica 2013
Winemaker Notes
This family company was established in 1925 and has been growing and evolving ever since, latterly passing to Antonio Candela Poveda and his two sons Antonio and Alfredo. The company began in a small bodega (cellar) which has expanded over time according to capacity and technological requirements and now boasts a second winemaking cellar. Today Bodegas Antonio Candela forms part of the family group which also encompasses Señorio de Barahonda as well as Viña de Aliagar, the company which manages the family estates.
Señorio de Barahonda is situated in the north east of the Región de Murcia in the Altiplano district. It is a transisitional zone between Spain’s central plateau and the Mediterranean, surrounded by a ring of low mountain ranges.
Yecla received its D.O. status in 1975 although 20 years prior to that certain bodega had already begun to concentrate on quality, leaving behind more robust and rustic styles to offer new, more interesting bottled reds, the majority of which fully exploit the great potential of the Monastrell grape.
Today the Yecla D.O. comprises 6500 hectares of vineyard.
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.