2015 Pozo Alto

A new vineyard-designated red, the 2015 Pozo Alto is sourced from part of one vineyard in Leza, where there is more Graciano and soils that have more clay with the same limestone and sandstone base, a cooler soil. What he likes from there is that on the east-facing plot, which is also a cool zone and relatively high, the Graciano ripens slowly and behaves well in ripe years like 2015 (and 2016 and 2017). In 2015, they had hail here, and they could only produce two barrels. This is a vertical, pure, harmonious, austere and cold style of red that I like very much. I left the wine in the glass for a good ten minutes without touching it, and it developed incredibly elegant, subtle, nuanced aromatics, mixing flowers, herbs and wild berries and spices, especially black peppercorns. The palate revealed electric freshness, with a core of citrus freshness that makes it very long. Delicious. This is an outstanding debut. Unfortunately, there are only 499 bottles and some magnums, but there will be 2,000 bottles in 2016.