Paraje de Mincal – Bodegas Vilaplana 2013
A small family run bodega North East of Granada city. Their vines are situated at 1000 meters above sea level in the Sierra de Baza natural park. As with most Granadian wines this altitude allows a slower maturation of the grapes due to the bigger differences between day and night time temperatures. This should lead to a more complex taste profile than the same grape grown in more balanced temperatures. As a 100% Tempranillo, I was expecting much and I am afraid to say I was disappointed. I think this 2013 has gone over - certainly my bottle had - but of course I would willingly try another. The omens were good – clear, leggy and a deep garnet colour in the glass. Little given away on the nose even after being aired for some considerable time. Several deep breaths just about pulled out hints of leather and a sweetness reminiscent of raspberry sherbet. It goes downhill from there unfortunately. Although you expect tannin in a full tempranillo, an immediate astringency fills the mouth, drying it and coating the teeth. It didn’t make for a pleasant drinker. There was no roundness or mouthfeel of note. This was surely not intended, but I have to give a truthful account. We did manage to drink the bottle between us - it was certainly not off in the usual sense or corked. If I were really ignoring the mouthfeel and getting some air into it, I could make out the base flavours of liquorice, with some tobacco and a nice minerality. I got a tiny bit of chocolate in the finish. These, I am sure, are the tastes that would be prominent in later red vintages. I look forward to trying them – along with the bodegas whites and rose - and having a much more pleasant drinking experience! Vilaplana is a bodega I intend to visit when I get back to Spain and there is nothing I would like more than to give a proper account of their wines.
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AuthorAlex Gonnord-Luty, chef, aspiring good blog writer, Hispanophile, lives currently in France & Spain. Archives
September 2020
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