Dominio del Aguila - Ribera Del Duero Gran Reserva Penas Aladas 2016

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Producer	Dominio del Aguila
Country	Spain
Region	Ribera Del Duero
Varietal	Tempranillo
Vintage	2016
Sku	12105199
Size	750ml

  

WA

100

Peña Aladas, or “winged stones” refers to a group of small, rocky vineyard plots well over 100 year old in age and surrounded by pine forests. Like old vineyards elsewhere in Spain, there is a mix of grape varieties. About 85% is planted to Tempranillo with the remainder a mix of Cariñena, Bruñal, Bobal, Albillo, Garnacha and others. These sites are picked by hand and the fruit sees a natural yeast, co-fermentation in tank before racking into French oak barrels for 51 months of aging in the deep, and cold cellars of Dominio del Águila.

One of the newest estates in Ribera del Duero, Dominio del Águila, was founded by Jorge Monzón and Isabel Rodero in 2010. Located in the village of La Aguilera, Jorge farms 30 hectares of vines organically with ongoing experiments with biodynamics. Like his neighbors, he relies primarily on the Tempranillo grape for his wines. Beyond that, all other similarities end.

At Dominio del Águila there is no Cabernet Sauvignon, no Merlot and certainly no Malbec or Petit Verdot, instead Jorge relies on Bobal, Garnacha, Tempranillo Gris and Albillo to add complexity to his wines. The vineyards are all over fifty years in age, and located on sandy and rocky clay soils. Jorge has acquired these plots over the last decade while working at Bodegas Arzuaga-Navarro which he departed in 2013 to work full time at his own estate. Before 2010 he sold his grapes to several high-profile neighbors. Proving the old adage that, "it takes a lot of beer to make good wine," Jorge also operates a microbrewery on the estate brewing beer entirely from local ingredients.

Jorge comes from a family with a long tradition of growing grapes and making wines. He has studied in Bordeaux and Burgundy and has worked at both Domaine Romanée-Conti & Vega Sicilia before joining Arzuaga. His studies and travels taught him several important things: the importance of organic farming, an appreciation of old-vines, a desire for elegance and transparency and all the skills necessary to combine these ideas to make remarkable wines.

Jorge and his wife Isabel, who is an architect, have renovated an ancient cellar in the village of La Aguilera dating to the 15th century. They installed concrete tanks for fermentation and placed a barrel room in the coldest part of the subterranean cellar. Natural yeast co-fermentations are the first step in the process with pigeage done by foot. After primary fermentation the wines are placed in French oak for malo and aging. With such cold temperatures in the barrel room the evolution of the finished wines is gradual allowing for the development of greater complexity.

The youth, freshness, balance and harmony of the 2016 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva is gobsmacking. The wine is a little shy, insinuating, reticent and a little closed, and it feels younger than it is. It comes from a collection of small plots of some of the oldest vines in the village of La Aguilera in the lieu-dit, or "paraje," that names the wine, in a small valley surrounded by pine, holm and juniper trees, where there is a cold draft of air and the temperature is lower than in the rest of the village. The soils are sandy and intermixed with clay on a marl mother rock. The plants are mostly Tempranillo, but as they are very old vines, there's always a field blend of other varieties—Albillo Mayor, Monastrell, Garnacha, Bobal and Cariñena—all fermented together with full clusters that were foot trodden in concrete vats and indigenous yeasts. Malolactic was in barrel and lasted for 11 months, while the élevage was extended to a total of 55 months (almost five years!). After all this time in barrels, the wine is not oaky at all; it's floral and perfumed, elegant, nuanced and layered. The texture is silky, and it's medium-bodied, with moderate ripeness, 14% alcohol and very good freshness denoted by a pH of 3.41. It has fine tannins that make it nicely textured and fine-boned, with subtle minerality. This should be veeeeeery long lived, as it has the stuffing, all the ingredients and the balance between them to make old bones. Amazing juice. 3,591 bottles and 51 magnums were filled in April 2021.