Dominio del Águila Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva 2018

Peñas Aladas is the most exclusive wine from Dominio del Águila, a winery widely-praised by specialist media in recent years. A wonderful Gran Reserva, it is produced with grapes collected from the small 85-year-old Peñas Aladas plot located in the village of La Aguilera. Most of the vines are Tempranillo ones but other varieties such as Bruñal or Albillo make up around 15% of the total. With their firm commitment to maintaining traditional techniques, whole bunches of grapes are crushed together without destemming in traditional vats known as lagars. The must is then fermented in stainless steel with local yeasts before being transferred to French oak barrels to undergo a malolactic fermentation and 51 months' ageing in cool underground cellars at the winery. This slow and careful process rounds the wine off perfectly and gives it an amazing complexity. It has a suggestive cherry-red colour and a seductive nose brimming with pure fragrances of violets, wild berries and exotic spices. It is complex and mature in the mouth, with a silky palate, elegant tannins and an austere minerality. An often sought-after but rarely-found freshness and elegance make it a perfectly-balanced wine with an irresistible personality. With a limited production of only one thousand bottles, Peñas Aladas is an exclusive treasure and undoubtedly a new icon in the world of Ribera del Duero wines.