2018 Tumba del Rey Moro

The single-vineyard 2018 Tumba del Rey Moro comes from a 0.7-hectare plot of ungrafted vines planted some 70 years ago in the village of Villanueva de Ávila on pure granite soils at 1,100 meters in altitude, a spectacular north-facing ravine with small terraces where the vines share the space with centenary chestnut trees that give shadow to most of the grapes. These cool conditions always make for a vertical, mineral and sharp expression of Garnacha, even in warmer years, that they often describe as liquid granite. 2018 is a cool year of late and complete ripeness of the grapes, with a good crop of very healthy and balanced bunches from the biodynamically farmed vines. These bunches fermented with 100% full clusters in oak vat with indigenous yeasts, with a very soft vinification and extra long maceration, more like an infusion, and an élevage in a 1,400-liter oak vat that lasted 14 months. This is like a mini-Rumbo al Norte—aromatic, floral and herbal with a very solid palate, seamless, more Vosne than Chambolle, stony and vertical. This is a little edgy right now, with big bones, and it will improve with a little more time in bottle. 1,673 bottled and 30 magnums were filled in March 2020. The 2019 was still doing malolactic fermentation when I tasted this in November 2020!