El Nogal 2009

Pago de los Capellanes got its name from an ancient 14th century parish in Pedrosa del Duero, where the chaplains used to offer Masses and prayers in exchange for small parcels of land.  Over the years they managed to build up a sizeable vineyard, which they had to abandon with the Ecclesiastical Confiscations of Mendizábal in 1855.

Today the estate is still known as Pago de los Capellanes, and boasts a modern, elegant winery built in 1996 and successively enlarged. They have 35 parcels of Tinto Fino which they harvest separately and which undergo a meticulous ageing process, including a careful selection of 22 types of French oak.

Today, Pago de los Capellanes is a reference winery in Ribera del Duero, a beacon of classic quality.

Appearance

Intense, picota cherry red

Nose

Seasonal red fruit, balsamic and dairy aromas. Hints of herbs and spices derived from the wine's ageing in wood.

Palate

Pleasant and full of flavour on entry.  It is well balanced with silky tannin on the palate.  A sensation of freshness on the aftertaste.

Comment

This wine got its name from a beautiful old walnut tree which grows near the winery. This is one of the few single parcel wines from the Ribera del Duero available today. The Tempranillo grapes all come from the same vineyard, six hectares of low-yielding vines, growing in stony, calcareous soil, and producing highly concentrated, high quality grapes.

With a delicate, elegant and round character, this Nogal 2009 is a fine wine. It is a subtle and tremendously deep wine, an usual style Ribera which illustrates another side to the Duero, which is worth exploring.  The wine is fermented in cone-shaped wooden vats and rests for 22 months in French oak barrels of four different origins. It is drinking very well now, but, with a little patience, it will excite even more.

Recommended with Iberian suckling pig cooked in a wood-fired oven.