Bodegas Resalte de Peñafiel Origen Ribera del Duero Crianza 2021
£23.45
The wine
A complex Tempranillo full of finesse, with fruity notes of blackberry, cherry and liquorice enveloped in exquisitely integrated cedar oak. A full-bodied palate with ripe tannins finishes with textured, long-lasting depth.
Crianza requires two years of ageing with at least one in oak. Origen refers to the estate's founding, and the wine sits at the start of the serious range. Ribera del Duero was only created as an appellation in 1982, though Vega Sicilia had been making wine there since 1864.
The producer
Bodegas Resalte de Peñafiel
View all Bodegas Resalte de Peñafiel winesBodegas Resalte de Penafiel was founded in 2000 at Penafiel, the town at the heart of Ribera del Duero beneath its extraordinary boat-shaped castle. The estate farms old Tempranillo vines on the high plateau above the river.
Ribera del Duero is a severe place to grow grapes. The vineyards sit at 750 to 900 metres on the Castilian meseta, where summer days reach forty degrees and nights fall away sharply, and frost is a genuine threat well into spring. That extreme diurnal range is precisely what makes the wines: deep colour and ripe fruit from the heat, firm acidity and aromatic definition from the cold nights.
Tempranillo here is called Tinto Fino or Tinta del Pais, a local strain with smaller berries and thicker skins than the Rioja version, and it gives darker, more structured wines. The appellation was only created in 1982, though Vega Sicilia had been making wine there since 1864, and it has risen faster than almost any region in Spain.
