2003 Barranco Oscuro Cerro Las Monjas 1368

Community Tasting Notes (3) Avg Score: 90.3 points

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  8/9/2023 - grapenomad wrote: 89 Points

  If you hear somebody say "natural wine can't age" bring them this. Barranco Oscuro is a pioneering character coming out of Grenada and making wine since the 1970s. A blend of Garnacha, Merlot, Syrah and Cab Sauv. Quite mature and at its peak. Nonetheless, great to see such an unusual blend make it this far.

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  6/17/2023 - forceberry wrote: 92 Points

  A natural wine made with fruit sourced from vineyards located at the altitude of 1300 meters above sea level. This is a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Fermented spontaneously, aged for 2 years in barriques. 14,5% alcohol. Tasted from a magnum.
  
  Quite dark and opaque blackish-red color with a rather evolved maroon hue. The nose feels ripe, rich and quite dark-toned with sweetly-toned aromas of cassis and wizened black cherries, a little bit of sweet blueberry, light earthy tones, a hint of brooding woody character and an evolved touch of game. The wine feels dense, extracted and quite concentrated on the palate with a full body and intense flavors of ripe blueberries and wizened blackcurrants, some evolved meaty tones, a little bit of peppery spice, light oaky tones of savory wood and toasty spice, a crunchy hint of redcurrant and a touch of fresh dark plum. The wine still retains quite a bit of structure with its moderately high acidity and moderately grippy tannins. The finish is long, dark-toned and quite grippy with a savory, intense aftertaste of dark plummy fruit and wizened blueberries, some woody notes of savory oak spice, a little bit of ripe blackcurrant, light peppery tones, evolved earthy hints and a crunchy touch of fresh red fruits.
  
  One might expect a 2003 Andalucian red wine made from international varieties to be a heavy, hot and flabby monster wine, but this turned out to be a surprisingly firm, serious and structure-driven effort with great sense of balance and intensity. I guess the super-high altitude might be the key here. It's also remarkable how wonderfully the wine was still holding up at 20 years of age, seeing how it is a natural wine vinified with very little SO2 (or even none at all). The wine certainly showed age, but it didn't feel like it was going to be falling apart anytime soon. Pretty terrific stuff.

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  12/1/2012 - CManthei wrote: 90 Points

  Decanting for 3 hours really opened-up this wine, revealing a beautiful nose of licorice, violets, roasted meats and dark fruits. Nice black cherry on the back-end. Palate was still pretty closed, even after decanting. The tannins on this wine are still HUGE. Smoke and dark fruits with a nice finish. This wine is big, and needs more time before it really blossoms...

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