January 6, 2023 - Excellent! Drinking perfectly
December 20, 2022 - Very good, if not quite what I had hoped for. I will leave the bottle for another year and see where we are then.
September 22, 2022 - 100% Tinto Fino from multiple parcels in Ribera del Duero. Fermented partly in whole bunches with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel tanks, macerated for 2-3 weeks. Aged for 16 months in partly new (normally around 1/3) French oak barriques. 15,5% alcohol. Tasted blind.
Dense, youthful and completely opaque, pitch-black appearance. The nose feels very big, noticeably ripe and even slightly boozy with dense, extracted and very concentrated aromas of black cherries, some toasty oak spice, a little bit of blackcurrant jam, light pruney tones, a green hint of minty lift, a touch of alcohol heat and a whiff of cocoa powder. The wine feels, dense, extracted and noticeably ripe on the palate with a very full body and concentrated, sweetly-fruited flavors of soft dark plums and overripe black cherries, some toasty oak spice, a little bit of molten dark chocolate, light earthy notes, a hint of extracted woody bitterness and a touch of blackcurrant marmalade. The overall feel is very big, hot and robust - almost porty - but structurally the wine feels relatively soft for such an extracted wine, thanks to its medium acidity and ample but very ripe and quite gently grippy tannins that slowly pile up on the gums. The finish is powerful, hot and moderately grippy with an extracted and somewhat sweet-toned aftertaste of wizened black cherries, some extracted woody bitterness, a little bit of toasty oak spice, light mocha tones, a hint of blackcurrant marmalade and a touch of prunes. The high alcohol makes the wine end on a hot and boozy note.
A huge, too extracted and borderline overripe Ribera del Duero that is lacking in finesse, structure and complexity. This feels like a wine where the only thing that matters is the level of ripeness, concentration and extraction. The fruit here feels super-ripe, super-concentrated and a bit too sweet-toned to be taken seriously, whereas structurally I find the wine wanting badly. There's definitely a lot of tannins here, but they feel very ripe and gentle, thus they don't really bring enough firmness nor make up for the lack of acidity here. But probably the worst thing here is the ridiculously high alcohol, which makes the wine feel rather hot at times and - along with the sweet-toned fruit flavors - almost porty. Sure, this lumbering giant of a wine is very big and impactful, but to me, it is just way too unbalanced for pleasure. Not my thing.
August 7, 2022 - In perfect drinking window
February 7, 2022 - Park90 night: Thought this was an Italian or a new-world. Modern with lots of dark fruit of blueberries, quite heavily extracted. Exhibited some port-like qualities so wasn't surprised when I found out it clocked in at 15.5%. Heavy winemaker signature on this, to a point where I didn't get a sense of place anymore.
July 6, 2021 - Vinnørd Holte 92+. Great nose - aromatic. Licorice, very concentrated
May 6, 2021 - Vinnørd Holte
December 13, 2020 - Requires decanting for sure even though this is past its original youth stage it still needed time to relax and open up.
Well assimilated oak but still has a bit of a new world feeling and Nicoletta who tried this blind struggled to place it given it sort of lacked a tipicity. Good wine and a good choice when one needs a wine to stand upo against strong food or situations like a BBQ etc where a soft wine would wither away. Solid 91 and drink sooner than later.
November 8, 2020 - Best bottle so far. Unfortunately my last.
September 30, 2020 - Its been a good 3 year since we tried this ( Papies 91) and continues on the good road. Decanted and monitored over a good 2 hours and the wine definitely benefits from some decanting.
The oak in now well assimilated and there are but dollops of mocha and oaky notes on the wine a nice add on to remind us that this is a modern Spain well made. Dark fruit, proper palate presence and firm tannin, dark fruited nose. This is a very good wine when one needs something to hold its presence like having at an outdoor BBQ with lots of different foods. It does suffer a little bit from being at time one dimensional we have to say though, very much at par with other big second wines of the area ( Valbuena for example) but this can easily age for another 10-15 years. Very good 91