2018 Senora de Las Alturas

The 2018 Señora de Las Alturas follows the style of the 2016, produced with Garnacha from a vineyard called Pontigos that they consider to be an extraordinary vineyard, a plot of extremely old vines planted with 4,400 plants per hectare close to the banks of the Alhama River, on gravel soils rich in limestone and clay. This fermented in open-top 500-liter French oak barrels with indigenous yeasts and matured in two second use 500-liter French oak barrels for 15 months. This wine saw a jump in quality in 2016 (they are on their way up, and the wines are better each vintage, irrespective of the style of the year). There is great harmony, subtleness and detail. It's nicely textured, but somehow it made me think of a minimalist red, more ethereal. In 2018 there's more depth and complexity here than in Malayeto. 1,300 bottles were filled in January 2020.