2015 Ribera del Duero Reserva

Bright ruby. Assertive, mineral-accented red and dark berry preserve, potpourri and candied licorice scents; a sexy Asian spice nuance builds in the background. Densely packed and sharply delineated, offering sappy raspberry liqueur, spicecake and floral pastille flavors that are given spine and lift by a core of smoky minerality. Finishes impressively long and silky, with slow-building tannins, a touch of black cherry and lingering florality. All whole clusters; fermented in concrete tanks and aged for three years in used French oak demi-muids and barrels.

I tasted two very different vintages of the red Reserva bottling, the warmer and riper 2015 Reserva and the cooler 2016. This 2015, despite the natural conditions of the year has managed to keep moderate alcohol and good freshness, possibly with the aid of old vines and surely through a lot of work in the vineyards. All their vineyards are organically farmed (now certified), and the wines ferment with indigenous yeasts and nothing is added or taken out, as they only use a minimal dose of sulfur. Even a red from a warm year like this took nine months to finish fermentation, so the vinification and aging is very slow. It matured in oak barrels for 35 months. This is a ripe and powerful year, with more rusticity and a different texture from the 2016 I tasted next to it. It's very tasty and supple, with chalky, slightly dusty tannins. This should polish those edges with some more time in bottle. 8,425 bottles and 319 magnums were filled in September 2018.

Estilo: complejo, representativo;Color: cereza muy intenso;Aroma: fruta negra, floral, hierbas de tocador, especiado, cacao fino, lácticos;Boca: equilibrado, estructurado, lleno;