2014 Viña Sastre (Bodegas Hermanos Sastre) Ribera del Duero Pago de Santa Cruz Gran Reserva

Community Tasting Notes (1) Avg Score: 94 points

• Options

  • Post a Comment
  • View TannicBeast's profile
  • Report Issue

  11/17/2021 - TannicBeast Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Tasted blind. Decanted. Deep ruby with a purple core and a slight garnet rim. Pronounced aromas of black cherry, ripe black plum, leather, tobacco, mocha and coconut, indicative of American oak. Developing. Dry, with med (+) acidity, med (+) to pronounced but ripe, smooth tannins and high alcohol (15.1% but seems a tad lower). Full-bodied, intense, with a long finish. Med (+) complexity, with great depth and very elegant oak treatment. Drinking nicely but suitable for aging. My top scoring Tempranillo to date.
  
  Possible varieties given the color, intensity and structure include the following, but they can be ruled out for several reasons: Cab. Sauv. (no bell pepper or eucalyptus or currant), Shiraz (no animal or black pepper), Malbec (no dark chocolate, not quite dark enough, typically does not see American oak) and Tempranillo. (Too dark and not enough acidity and tannin to be a Brunello). The American oak ultimately helps narrow the options down quite a bit.
  
  This is an excellent example of Ribeira del Duero, aged in one-to-three-year-old oak (65% French and 35% American) barrels ranging in size from 225L to 1000L for 30 months and then at least another year before release. It is still a baby and should show well for many more years.

  1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment

Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.