2018 Las Umbrias

The most delicate, transparent and ethereal red from the Comando G range, the 2018 Las Umbrías comes from the first vineyard they started working, a plot in the village of Rozas de Puerto Real. It's from half a hectare of 60-year-old Garnacha at 1,000 meters in altitude in the paraje (lieu-dit or place) that names the wine and means shady place, a place surrounded by chestnut and oak trees. Even in a perfect year like 2018 when the crop was extremely healthy, they select the grapes one by one, removing each grape that is not perfect from the bunches, which are foot trodden and ferment whole in an oak vat with the yeasts that come with the grapes. Their method is a soft extraction with a vey long maceration to get all the flavors and aromas from the skins. The wines always mature in used oak containers, different ones depending on the volume given the size of the crop, in this case a 1,200-liter oak vat where the wine matured for 14 months. This has amazing finesse, more than usual, and it's incredibly pale and perfumed (flowers, tangerine), savory and weightless with terrific balance, ultra-fine silky tannins and lots of energy and light. It finishes with very clean and focused flavors and a salty twist. Hands-down the best vintage of Las Umbrías. Bravo! 1,152 bottles and 30 magnums were filled in March 2020.