2014 Poboleda
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Tasting notes
55% Carignan and 45% Grenache, vines between 80 and 105 years old . Still dark purple. Notably mineral and savoury on the nose with the tannins just starting to melt. Sumptuous fruit. This is just entering its tertiary phase of refinement – almost claret-like build! (I mean structure not Cabernet flavours.) There is still the sucky-stony character but the complexity of the fruit is starting to dominate. Great moment to drink this. (JR)
Critic scores
Jeb Dunnuck
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
The 2014 Doix Costers de Vinyes Velles checks in as 55% Carinyena and 45% Garnacha that spent 16 months in new French oak. Its deep ruby/purple colour is followed by a beautiful perfume of blueberries, violets, graphite, lead pencil and iris flower. Just insanely pure, perfumed and complex, with full-bodied richness, this beauty glides across the palate with no weight, incredible tannin quality, no hard edges, and beautiful purity. While this cuvée used to be richer and slightly more concentrated, it's more elegant, pure and seamless today, without sacrificing intensity.
I had two vintages of the old-wine cuvée to taste side by side, starting with the 2014 Doix Costers de Vinyes Velles. Made of 55% Cariñena and 45% Garnacha from old vines on slopes on slate llicorella soils, the fermentation and aging are the same as for the centenary Carignan: fermentation in stainless steal with neutral yeasts and an élevage of 16 months in new French barriques. It has moderate alcohol and high acidity. It has already started developing some tertiary notes and shows some graphite and wet slate notes. The palate shows great balance, with concentration and freshness - what you're aiming for in a wine like this where pure power might be too much. 5,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2016.
55% Cariñena, 45% Garnacha. 100-year-old vines in Pobleda. Hand-harvested, 100% destemmed, submerged-cap fermentation in stainless steel for 24–28 days, then 16 months’ ageing in new French oak. Unfined and unfiltered. High acidity a hallmark of the 2014 vintage (pH 3.15, TA 7 g/l). Dark crimson. Complex smoky minerals on the nose. Warm and molten! Old vines and lots of terroir powdered into this glass. Manages not to be too heavy. Dry end. Lots to lick on – really is like sucking a stone. (JR)