2014 La Montesa, Crianza, Palacios Remondo, Rioja, Spain

2014 La Montesa, Crianza, Palacios Remondo, Rioja, Spain

Product: 20141237665
 
2014 La Montesa, Crianza, Palacios Remondo, Rioja, Spain

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Description

This is instantly seductive, with notes of cedar, wood smoke and punnet-loads of ripe, plummy fruit. This is a blend of Garnacha (88 percent) and Tempranillo, grown in a single vineyard on the slopes Mount Yerga. Twelve months in French oak – half of it new – contribute to its voluptuous mouth-feel, while the effects of altitude, as well as the deft timing of the 2014 harvest, ensure it remains fresh and lithe. A great match for all manner of meat dishes, but rabbit paella would be top of my list.

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Critics reviews

Wine Advocate92/100
I tasted from two different bottles of the 2014 La Montesa Crianza, one that had been decanted for 18 hours and one that was popped and poured. The wine had opened up, but showed no signs of fatigue or oxidation. The just-opened bottle felt a little more compact, serious and a little backward. It had only been in bottle for less than two months when I tasted it and it didn't feel dizzy at all. The amount of Garnacha is growing in most of the wines and here, it's already 85%, with the balance provided by Tempranillo; in 2015 ,the proportion is even higher at 92% and 8%. It fermented in stainless steel vats with natural yeasts, including malolactic, and matured in barrique for one year before being fined and bottled. 2013 and 2014 were challenging vintages, and many wines were not produced. In 2014 (and 2013), there is no Propiedad, so those grapes were used for the La Montesa. The palate shows great balance, and the overall effect of the higher percentage of Garnacha is a more elegant, streamlined wine that tasty with great freshness. A whopping 660,000 bottles were produced, which is remarkable for this quality and price; it does feel like a more expensive wine...
Luis Gutirrez - 31/08/2016 Read more

About this WINE

Bodegas Palacios Remondo

Bodegas Palacios Remondo

Bodegas Palacios Remondo is based in Alfaro in the Rioja Oriental. This old family firm has been revitalised by the arrival of Alvaro Palacios who has already made his name, starting from scratch, with his extraordinary Priorat wines.

He has since returned to the family property in Rioja Oriental, and in a very short space of time, has decreased production by 60% and increased quality by a far higher factor. The most Southerly of the Rioja vineyards, Oriental centres on the rich silty soils of the River Ebro, its best vineyards, such as this, at quite considerable altitude (550 metres).

Placet is a beautifully refined, balanced, lightly perfumed white Rioja - made in oak but without the influence of new wood. The reds offer a range of options across different price ranges. The Vendimia is exuberantly juicy, for immediate consumption.

The Crianza La Montesa has a glossy feel to an otherwise traditional style. A 90-hectare plot with vines up to 550 metres of altitude, Montesa is fermented in large oak vats then aged for 10 months in French barriques, 50% of which are new. The make-up of the blend varies according to the vintage; despite the majority shareholding, as one might expect, of Tempranillo and Garnacha, each year there is correspondingly more Mazuelo and Graciano, both adding interest. The wine has complex flavours with spice and tapenade, tar and licorice in addition to the blackberry, cassis and loganberry which are the classic hallmarks of Tempranillo .

The flagship however is Propriedad, a wonderful example of modern winemaking, using new French oak yet really letting both the fruit and the terroir express themselves.

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Rioja

Rioja

Rioja is known primarily for its reds although it also makes white wines from the Viura and Malvasia grapes and rosés mainly from Garnacha. Most wineries (bodegas) have their own distinct red wine formula, but are normally a combination of Tempranillo, Garnacha and sometimes Graciano. Other red varieties recently approved into the Denominación de Origen Calificada (DOCa) regulations are the little-known Maturana Tinta, Maturana Parda, and Monastel (not to be confused with Monastrell). The most important of these by far is the king of native Spanish varieties, Tempranillo, which imbues the wines with complex and concentrated fruit flavours.

The Garnacha, meanwhile, bestows its wines with warm, ripe fruit and adds an alcohol punch. Graciano is an améliorateur grape (one that is added, often in small proportions, to add a little something to the final blend) and is found mainly in Reserva and Gran Reserva wines, albeit in small quantities (two to five percent), adding freshness and aroma, and enhancing the wines' ageing potential.

Crianza wines are aged for one year in oak followed by maturation for one year in bottle before being released for sale. Reservas must undergo a minimum of three years’ ageing before release, at least one of which should be in oak casks. Finally, Gran Reservas, which are only produced in the finest vintages, must spend at least five years maturing, of which at least two must be in oak.

Geographically, Rioja is divided in to three districts: Alavesa, Alta and Baja. Rioja Alavesa lies in the northwest of the La Rioja region in the Basque province of Álava. Along with Rioja Alta, it is the heartland of the Tempranillo grape. Rioja Alta, to the north-west and south of the Ebro River in the province of La Rioja, stretches as far as the city of Logroño. Elegance and poise is the hallmark of wines made here with Rioja Alta Tempranillo. Mazuelo (Carignan) is occasionally added to wines from this area to provide tannins and colour. Rioja Baja, located to the south-east, is the hottest of the three districts and specialises in Garnacha.

Rioja has witnessed a broad stylistic evolution over the years. The classic Riojas pioneered by Murrieta and Riscal in the 19thcentury were distinguished by long oak-barrel-ageing whereas the modern style, represented by Marqués de Cáceres since 1970, showcases the fruit and freshness of Tempranillo, keeping oak ageing to the legal minimum. The post-modern school that emerged in the late 1990s from producers like Palacios Remondo and Finca Allende concentrate on making wines from old vines or specific vineyard plots to accentuate the terroir, and using larger proportions of minority varietals such as Graciano.

The alta expression wines, pioneered by Finca Allende (among others) and later taken up by almost every other producer in Rioja, represent the newest flagship category in Rioja. Alongside the traditional Gran Reservas, alta expression wines are limited production and come from low-yielding vines, often from a single vineyard, and are hand-picked. Excellent examples of this style are Artadi's Pagos Viejos and El Pison.

However, modernisation has not held back the continuation of successful traditional styles as well. Happily long-established houses such La Rioja Alta, CVNE and Marques de Vargas continue to make graceful, old style wines better than ever before.

White Rioja is typically produced by the Viura grape which must comprise at least 51 percent of the blend; the rest can be made up by other, recently-authorised varieties, namely Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Verdejo, as well as the native Maturana Blanca, Tempranillo Blanco, and Turruntés (not to be mistaken for Torrontés).

Recommended Producers:
Finca Allende, Amezola de la Mora, Artadi, CVNE, Marqués de Vargas, Palacios Remondo, La Rioja Alta, Murrieta.

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Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

A high quality red wine grape that is grown all over Spain except in the hot South - it is known as Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, Cencibel in La Mancha and Valdepenas and Ull de Llebre in Catalonia. Its spiritual home is in Rioja and Navarra where it constitutes around 70% of most red blends.

Tempranillo-based wines tend to have a spicy, herbal, tobacco-like character accompanied by ripe strawberry and red cherry fruits. It produces fresh, vibrantly fruit driven "jovenes" meant for drinking young. However Tempranillo really comes into its own when oak aged, as with the top Riojas  where its flavours seem to harmonise perfectly with both French and American oak, producing rich, powerful and concentrated wines which can be extraordinarily long-lived.

In Ribera del Duero it generally sees less oak - the exception being Vega Sicilia where it is blended with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and then aged for an astonishing 7 years in oak and is unquestionably one of the world`s greatest wines.

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