Alcohol: 13.5%
Grape(s): 70% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Merlot
Localization: La Mancha, Spain
Tasting Notes: Dark red. Red berry and floral aromas are complemented by discreet vanilla and woodsmoke flourishes. Sweet and energetic on the palate, offering spice-laced raspberry and cherry flavors that deepen as the wine opens up. Smooth, even tannins frame the finish, which hangs on with very good, spicy persistence.
The wine is evolving very gracefully at age seven, offering up a deep and complex nose of black cherries, cassis, woodsmoke, a nice base of spice elements, just a whisper of the walnuts to come with further bottle age, a bit of chicory and a nice touch of cedary oak.
On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and resolving beautifully, with impressive complexity, a good core and fine length and grip on the classy finish. There is still a bit of tannin here to continue to carry the wine into the future, but it is wide open today and drinking very well indeed.
93 points Wine Review Online; Michael Franz: “Of all the wines in the current set of releases from this excellent, high-value producer, this one shows the character of its growing season most clearly. Elegant and complex and refined like so many 2016 wines (not only from Spain, but also Italy and France among others), this shows terrific class and complexity for a $16 wine. It is no richer than the 2017 Crianza from this house, so don’t buy it for “punch.” However, it shows an extremely high ratio of aroma and flavor to its weight, which is precisely the characteristic that makes for magic in wines from, say, Barbaresco or Burgundy. The key difference here is that this costs less than 1/3 of what you would pay for a wine of comparable quality from either of those regions. Enough said. When I first opened the five current releases from Jaraba, this was actually my favorite, though the Pago de la Jaraba surpassed it when fully aerated. I note this only to let you know that this is ready to enjoy now, and wow, is it ever enjoyable.”
Notes: Varieties were aged, separately for 12 months in 70% American and 30% French oak barrel, additional aging in tank and bottle
The Domain: Pago de La Jaraba is a family owned winery built in the heart of La Mancha. While they can trace a history of notable regard for wines grown on the estate back to the mid-1700’s their current
goal is to produce high-quality, exclusively estate-sourced, flag waving examples of the new “modern-traditional balanced” wines coming out of Spain.
They follow traditional, sustainable methods and farm 80 hectares of vineyards. In addition they also grow cereal crops – wheat and barley as well as sunflowers, almond, pistachio and olive trees. Finally they raise their own flock of sheep on estate scrub/forest both to enhance and protect soil quality and for production of artisan Manchego cheese.
