2013 Pago de Negralada

I also tasted two vintages of the single vineyard Tempranillo, including the 2013 Pago Negralada, a plot at 760 meters altitude on deep gravel soils covered with sand. Vinification and aging is similar for most single vineyard bottlings, fermentation in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts with a relatively short maceration time (12 days), followed by malolactic and 18 months aging in new French oak barrels. 2013 was a more challenging vintage for the grape, and the wine shows some more notes from the elevage, from the toasty spectrum of aroma, than in other years. The palate is light to medium-bodied, with some dusty tannins and good freshness. There is less wine here than in 2014. 4,500 bottles and some larger formats were filled in July 2015. Mar 2017, www.robertparker.com