2018 Suertes del Marqués El Ciruelo [WA96]

Producer: Suertes del Marqués 
Region: Canary Islands, Spain  
Blend: Proprietary Red Blend 
Year: 2018 

Wine Advocate, 96 Points 

"The 2018 El Ciruelo could very well be the finest vintage of this single-vineyard bottling, from a plot on very poor soils that has very balanced vines that usually give the more complex and deeper wine from the winery. It's a north-facing plot at 480 to 520 meters in altitude pruned in the cordón trenzado system unique to La Orotava. It fermented with 100% full clusters, no temperature control, indigenous yeasts and a 27-day maceration time. It matured in used 500-liter oak barrels for 11 months. This is incredibly elegant, though the nose is still a bit shy; it might take some more time in bottle to show further complexity, but the texture is just incredible. It has the ashy/volcanic/pumice mouthfeel and very fine, slightly chalky tannins. This is up there with the 2016, perhaps a notch above. The nose is nuanced, insinuating and complex. Unfortunately this wine will have to change the name starting with the 2019 vintage because of a problem with the brand, and it will be called Las Suertes, the name of the paraje where the vineyard is. 4,100 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2019." 

*Price and availability in store may vary. Vintage date may differ from pictured.