GRAPE: 50% Monastrell – 50% Garnacha Tintorera

D.O.P.: ALMANSA

VINEYARDS: A selection of the winery’s best vineyards. At an altitude of 850 metres above sea level, with hundred-year-old unirrigated vines, organic farming methods, poor, sandy and limestone soils.

VINIFICATION: The grapes are harvested by hand in small boxes of 12 kg from the beginning of October, for the Garnacha Tintorera, and the end of October, for the Monastrell variety. The Monastrell grapes are cold pre-macerated for about 4 days to give the wine more colour, freshness and fruity aromas in stainless steel fermentation tanks. The Garnacha Tintorera grapes are cold pre-macerated for 7 days in new 500 litre French oak barrels to extract colour and also to obtain fruity aromas that combine with the wood.
The alcoholic fermentation lasts around 10 days, at a controlled temperature of 28ºC in stainless steel tanks. For the Monastrell grape, it then remains with the skins for a further 7 days, with gentle daily pumping over to extract the fine tannins.
In the case of the Garnacha Tintorera, fermentation takes place in 500 litre barrels at a temperature of around 29ºC for 8 days, with daily manual pumping over. Once the alcoholic fermentation is finished, the wine remains with its skins, gently pumped over daily for 30 days in order to extract the fine tannins and at the same time to complex the structure for ageing.
The malolactic fermentation is carried out in new 300 litre barrels for the Monastrell grape, and 500 litre barrels for the Garnacha Tintorera, receiving a gentle bâtonnage, stirring its fine lees for 3 months, giving the wine more volume and elegance. Once this process is finished, the wine is racked by gravity to make the coupage in tank and then aged for 15 months in medium/long toasted French Allier and American Missouri oak barrels, of which 25% of the wine remains in 500-litre barrels and the rest in 300-litre barrels.