TELMO RODRIGUES Matallana, Ribera del Duero 2021 Bottle

Description

Telmo Rodriguez is one of the greatest of Spanish winemakers. He owns large hectares of vines, covering Gredos, Valdeorras, Ribera del Duero and Rioja, among others. The property is located in the foothills of the Sierra Tolono. YJAR is based on an old, high-altitude vineyard of 3.8 hectares located in Labastida, Rioja (Remelluri property). Telmo Rodríguez, "it is the great wine, the jewel that we have extracted from this exceptional vineyard with unique characteristics.”

THE WINE ADVOCATE 97
Drink Date: 2025 - 2036
The Ribera del Duero red 2021 Matallana comes from a challenging year but with very good potential for quality and quantity. It has grapes from different vineyards in five different villages on different soils, where they made a big selection to keep the very best grapes; they got 80,000 kilograms of grapes and ended up producing some 22,000 bottles. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and oak vats. It matured in French oak barrels of different sizes for 14 months. This is a superb classical Ribera del Duero with ripeness, concentration, balance and elegance and the freshness from a cooler year marked by the big snowstorm in January and a milder summer. It has 14.4% alcohol with a pH of 3.72 and 4.6 grams of acidity. It's very spicy and peppery, showy and extroverted, very spicy with some exotic notes of nutmeg, ripe wild berries, violets and herbs. It's medium to full-bodied with very chalky tannins and is tasty, almost salty. 22,450 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2023.

Jane Anson: 97
The Drinks Business (Colin Hay): 97