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Hors Bordeaux tasting notes: Spain
Spain has brought a very consistent set of releases to La Place, but the standouts are Telmo Rodríguez’s Yjar and Matallana, VivaltuS, from the partnership of Jean-Claude Berrouet and Montxo Martínez’s and Marqués de Riscal’s Tapias, says Colin Hay.
Spanish reds
| Spanish releases (red) | Vintage | Region | New? | Rating |
| La Fleur VivaltuS | 2019 | Ribera del Duero | No | 93 |
| VivaltuS | 2019 | Ribera del Duero | No | 97 |
| Dolio | 2020 | Ribeira Sacra | No | 94+ |
| Matallana | 2021 | Ribera del Duero | No | 97 |
| Yjar | 2020 | Rioja | No | 97 |
| Tapias de Marqués de Riscal | 2021 | Rioja | No | 97 |
| CVNE Real de Asùa Carromaza | 2021 | Rioja Alta | No | 95 |
La Fleur VivaltuS 2019 (Ribera Del Duero DO; 99% Tempranillo; 1% Merlot; a selection from parcels all at high altitudes of between 750 and 1000 metres on poor clay, sandy and limestone soils; pH 3.67; 14% alcohol). Soft, gentle, lithe and engaging aromatically. Not fully open and expressive but still inviting and gently enticing even if it really would benefit from some time in a carafe. As it opens it is, as it was last year too, impressively light, lifted, aerial and, above all, floral in its aromatics, with pleasing notes of acacia, hyacinth and eucalyptus. Cinnamon too, and a hint of clove. Dark berry fruits – blueberries, brambles and mulberries, a little damson too. A touch of graphite and garrigue herbs. Squid ink. We have lovely fine-grained tannins and a degree of precision and finesse that hints already at the quality of the grand vin for which it serves as a wonderful introduction. 93.
VivaltuS 2019 (Ribera Del Duero DO; 99% Tempranillo; 1% Merlot; the old-vine fruit was sourced predominantly from the Fuentenebro and La Aguilera vineyards at, respectively, 900-1000 and 850-900 metres of altitude; aged in a combination of French oak barrels and amphorae; pH 3.67; 14% alcohol; a partnership between Jean-Claude Berrouet, who is the consultant here, and Montxo Martínez). The fourth release of this wine. Another wine of elemental freshness and staggering intensity from VivaltuS, both highly expressive aromatically yet also somehow delicate and restrained. Leafy, herbal, vibrant and very subtly spiced, this is soft and gentle, gracious and beguiling. I love the trace of cedar and that note of wild thyme. Very beautiful, with lovely grip and stretch from the extraordinarily fine-grained but structuring tannins. Long and juicy on the lifted, aerial finish. 97.
Dolio (Adega Alguiera) 2020 (Ribeira Sacro DO; a blend of Mencia, Brancellao, Merenzau, Caiño and Sousón, with no Garnacha Tintorera this year; foot-trodden and 100 per cent whole bunch fermented in a single troncoconic oak vat with indigenous yeasts; matured in 225-liter barrels and 2,000-litre foudres for 24 months; 14% alcohol; 6658 bottles produced; tasted twice, first at the Joanne press tasting and then in Paris from a sample sent by the property). A wine that cries out for a decanter and patience. Very Burgundian in style. Delicate and refined, with a bright, crisp and yet crystal clear mid-palate charged with red berry and stone fruit. Raspberry. Goji berries. Cherries. A little redcurrant too. A peppery florality and no hint of oak. Deceptively, this has quite an ample frame, reinforcing the limpid and glossy mouthfeel. Spicy, with a lovely note of crushed rose and green Szechuan peppercorns. Sapid and juicy especially on the finish and nicely layered too. Impressively crystalline. Likely to represent excellent value. This will need a lot of aeration in its youth. 94+.
Matallana 2021 (Ribera Del Duero DO; from a blend of Tinto Fino, Navarro, Valenciano, Albillo and other varietals sourced from the best sites in Sotillo de la Ribera, Roas, Fuentecén, Fuentemolinos and Pardilla; fermented in oak vats and tanks with indigenous yeasts; aged for 14 months in French oak barrels; 14.5% alcohol). This has great presence and intensity. We’re immediately transported to the crypt or the cathedral. Myrrh, incense, patchouli, molten candle wax. Broad and dense, impressively layered and compact too. Fine-grained but very tactile tannins that get between the layers and structure the gently tapering parameters of the flow of the wine over the palate. Impressive. A true vin de garde. Serious but with great freshness and dynamism. 97.
Yjar 2020 (Rioja DOC; a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Granegro and Rojal; 14% alcohol). Dark berries and black cherries, a little touch of baking spice, but incense too. Graphite. More open-textured at first than Matallana, but the grippy tannins sculpt this drawing the fruit back to the spine and increasing the intensity through the mid-palate. More glacial, sapid and juicy than Matallana, but with considerable density and impact, above all on the finish. Impressive. Very Telmo Rodriguez! 97.
Tapias de Marques de Riscal 2021 (Rioja DOC; 100% Tempranillo; 15% alcohol). Intense, bright and fresh, but with a very full robe, nice amplitude and a pronounced sense of aromatic tension. The aromatics lead one to anticipate, even before it passes one’s lips, the struggle between the amplitude the fruit wants to take and the tannins that want to pull it back to the spine. Graphite and a touch of cedar with aeration. Sous bois notes. I find this quite bordelais in a way. Lovely. Leafy aromatics. Hyper-fresh. One senses the altitude. Light and lifted, yet considerable density. Dark berry fruits, brambles and mulberries, damsons. Wild thyme and lemon thyme. Ink. It’s fuller and deeper than you expect, with gloriously fine-grained tannins – not really beady before finer grained than that implies. Fantastically pure and precise, especially given both the layering and the density. Lovely structure. Beautifully shaped, but more fluid than chiselled implies. Long and gently rippling on the sapid and juicy finish. Excellent. A vin de garde as ever but all is there and with great harmony. 97.
CVNE Real de Asùa Carromaza 2021 (Rioja Alta; 100% Tempranillo; from the two Carromaza plots in the village of the same name in the Rioja Alta at an elevation of 530-555 metres; aged for 12 months in French oak barrels; pH 3.63; 14% alcohol). Lifted. Spicy, with evident cinnamon and clove. Assorted peppercorns. A tight, almost strict, frame and quite linear. Aerial and crystalline, or it will be once the fine and grainy tannins are more resolved. For the moment they massage themselves into the berry and predominantly stone fruit and disrupt the flow of the wine – but all that is required is a little patience. Juicy and impressively fresh. Lifted on the finish. 95.
Spanish whites
| Spanish re | Spanish releases (white) | Vintage | Region | New? | Rating |
| Spain | De la Riva Macharnudo San Cayetano | 2023 | Andalucia | No | 96 |
De La Riva Macharnudo San Cayetano 2023 (Vino di Pasto; 100% Palomino; 13.5% alcohol; this is an unfortified Palomino and comes from the famous Macharnudo vineyard in Jerez). I loved this special and extremely distinctive wine last year and it feels wonderfully familiar and every bit as good in the 2023 vintage. Candlewax and a hint of myrrh, with that distinct note that reminds me here again of Dauvissat’s Premier Cru Chablis La Forest. There’s a touch of white almond flesh, but this is also crisply bone dry (so don’t start thinking frangipane here). There’s confit lime too and a little peach flesh, maybe a touch of quince. One the palate this is full and rich, more so than the vertical and lifted aromatics lead you to expect – it’s as if we’ve gone now from a vertical to a rather more horizontal register. Intense and quite dense and viscous, but with a wondrous up-thrust of fresh bloody orange juice from below just when it starts to feel a little too rich. Tense and taut on the finish after that enervating injection of freshness. 96.
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