dominio del águila canta la perdiz 2018

dominio del águila is a family winery located in la aguilera, a small village in the ribera del duero, and run by a couple formed by jorge monzón and isabel rodero, respectively "winemaker" and architect. since 2010, they have joined forces to make a dream come true... the winery belongs to the "denominación de origen ribera del duero" and is located in the "consejo ecológico de castilla y león". the greatest asset of the estate is the vineyard: there are 30 hectares of very old vines, most of them organically grown, as well as 5 relatively young hectares (less than 50 years old). they have been supplying grapes to some of the main wineries in the region for more than 10 vintages. orge comes from a family of several generations of winemakers and his studies were based on "soil, viticulture and oenology" at the universities of bordeaux and burgundy. he worked for more than two years in prestigious wineries such as drc. he also worked in spain with the most famous estate of spain for a year and as technical director of bodegas arzuaga-navarro for nine seasons. since 2013, he has been working full time at dominio del águila. throughout these years of learning and gaining experience, they have dedicated themselves to the recovery of the family vineyards, until they have gathered an important wine heritage of very high quality, true great vintages... where the tempranillo grape is the real protagonist, coexisting in a very friendly way with other varieties such as blanca del país, bobal, garnacha, albillo, tempranillo gris, etc. red wine from ribera del duero made with old vines from tempranillo, and other younger vines from bobal, and white albillo. all this vines are are around 800 metres from sea level. the viticulture is organic and the harvest made by hand, after a fermentation in concrete vats, the wine age 30 months in french oak barrels. the 2018 canta la perdiz feels like a more rustic version of the 2016, with earthiness and abundant tannins and more backward than the approachable and juicy 2019 i tasted next to it. it fermented with full clusters and indigenous yeasts in concrete vats followed by a slow malolactic in barrel and 37 months in those barrels. the wine is still a little oaky, spicy and smoky, with good ripeness, 14.5% alcohol, good freshness and balance and abundant tannins that feel a little rustic. we'll have to see how the wine develops in bottle. 1,365 bottles and 32 magnums were filled in november 2021. this wine shows black and red ripe fruit on the nose, acompained by floral aromas from albillo and a touch of minerality. on the palate is full body, with silky tanins and a hint of toaste flavours from oak.