La Bendecida 2021

The only thing I can find to criticise about this stunning, whole bunch fermented pairing of Tempranillo and 5% Viura is that there is so little of it, unsurprisingly given the size of its 0.12-hectare source in San Vicente. The sort of wine you could slip undetected into a blind line-up of Burgundian Grands Crus, it's a lacy, ethereal, delicately structure red with subtle reduction, sweet patisserie and summer berry flavours and a finish that leaves you yearning for more. Stunning. 2025-32

The tiny single-vineyard red 2021 La Bendecida comes from a 0.2-hectare plot at 520 meters in altitude that is certified organic (but not yet on the label). It's Tempranillo planted in 1989 and some Viura that he regrafted into the Tempranillo (there is also some Garnacha, but it's not yet in production) in the paraje of Molino - La Nava in the village of San Vicente de la Sonsierra that he purchased in 2017. Picked on October 1, the full clusters were foot trodden and fermented in open-top stainless steel vat with indigenous yeasts for one month. It matured in a second use 300-liter oak barrel with the fine lees for 18 months. There's more spice and influence from the oak here; the smaller size and possibly slightly newer oak seems to compress the wine a little. Despite its moderate 13.5% alcohol and pH of 3.5, it feels riper and darker, with a faint earthy rusticity. 380 bottles were filled in June 2023. - Luis Gutiérrez.