1996 Abadía Retuerta El Palomar
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
The first vintage of this red blend, the 1996 Cuvee El Palomar has a complex nose of iodine, brick dust, soy sauce and underbrush, reaching the limit of its life but staying in a plateau, holding onto the acidity. It has a beautiful and captivating nose, at times reminding me of an aged Burgundy more than a Bordeaux. It's sleek, elegant and polished. This was always an elegant red, produced with a 50/50 blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo from vines planted in 1991. It matured in French oak barrels for 18 months and has 13.5% alcohol. It was bottled in June 1998. There are 215 bottles in this release of historical vintages.
Critic scores
Robert Parker
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous
More reviews and scores
The 1996 Cuvee Palomar is a 50% Cabernet Sauvignon / 50% Tempranillo blend. The latter varietal comes from a chalky hillside, and the Cabernet Sauvignon from a gravelly vineyard that was once a riverbed. The 1996 was aged in 100% new French oak, and bottled without filtration after 16 months of aging. It boasts an impressively saturated dark ruby/purple color, as well as complex aromas of cedar, new saddle leather, roasted herbs, and black currants. Rich, full-bodied, and harmonious, this elegant, yet authoritatively flavorful wine exhibits impressive purity and overall equilibrium. Moderate tannin in the finish suggests 2-3 years of bottle age will be beneficial. The wine is capable of lasting for 15 or more years. Oct 1998, www.robertparker.com
Saturated dark ruby. Pungent, stony aromas of cassis, black raspberry, toast and flowers. A step up in intensity. As dense and lush as the regular bottling, but even firmer and more sharply delineated owing to the wine's strong minerality. Still, this offers truly enticing sweetness in the mouth. Strong oak tones on the very long finish.