2014 ROC Mencia

I found a great collection of wines from Verónica Ortega, and her flagship 2014 ROC was no exception. It was quite closed at first and it needed time in the glass to open up. 2014 was a year of slow ripening that resulted in wines with great finesse and nerve. ROC is always produced with the fruit from the same two old vineyards planted on sandy soils that provide elegant wines. She used 50% full clusters for the fermentation, with indigenous yeasts in open 500-liter oak barrels, with a soft vinification to avoid over-extracting. It matured in used 228-liter barriques for 14 months. The oak is perfectly integrated into the wine. It's a subtle and perfumed red with great complexity, insinuating rather than in your face, nuanced and elegant. The palate revealed ultra-refined tannins and very good balance. It's tasty and long, very persistent. It has the balance and all the components for a positive and long evolution in bottle. 5,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2016.

Barrel sample. 50% whole bunch. Smoke, pork crackling, black cherry fruit. Hugely intense but not at all over the top. Charmingly soft structure, in fact. (RH)