2011 Alfredo Maestro, La Viñuela, Chinchon, Madrid, Spain.
The rare and exotic La Vinuela Tempranillo by Alfredo Maestro is a supreme effort coming from Madrid area of middle Spain, this tiny micro climate puts huge stresses on the vines and is a very demanding spot for winemakers, but Maestro shows will over nature to craft such a beautiful and elegant wine. This arid region makes it difficult to keep acidity and fresh flavors, making this effort all that much more remarkable and shows the real talent on display, as this red gives nothing but graceful layers, life and balance even in a warm to hot vintage. Alfredo Maestro has risen to challenge here and put forth a terrific wine, the La Vinuela is a refined and alluring wine, it shows a dusty red berry, dried flowers and mineral in the bouquet and has smooth ripe tannins providing a firm but silky texture and structure with layers of flavor and a wonderful lengthy finish. The palate shows blackberry, blueberry, tangy plum and vivid cherry and raspberry fruits along side warm earth, anise seed, sweet and salty notes, new leather, sandalwood, spiced cedar, toffee and lingering liqueur. This medium weight and darkly hued wine pleases all the senses and it easy to get lost in, drink from 2014 to 2020, these latest releases from Maestro his best to date and merit extra attention, I highly recommend searching out his wines they are unique and natural expressions of both his talents and the interesting terrors he finds.
($50 Est.) 93 Points, grapelive
