El Hombre Bala 2018

I tasted the red 2018 El Hombre Bala back in February, but as I'm tasting the other 2018s and all the 2019s, I have re-tasted this as well. It is the entry-level Garnacha from different vineyards in the village of Cadalso de los Vidrios and comes from a cool and balanced vintage. All of the vines in Gredos are more or less old—these average 60 years of age—and the soils from the village are all based on granite, more or less sandy and with more or less quartz and silica. The vines are organically farmed, and the wine fermented with some full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in oak vats and French oak barrels for 14 months. The extra time in bottle has done it good, and this keeps showing how complete the 2018 vintage was, with perfect ripeness, combining concentration, power and freshness. It keeps being floral, expressive and clean, with complexity and depth, still young but showing more nuance and mellow character. It reveals the fine-grained, chalky tannins with the granite texture and tastiness. 44,000 bottles and 3,000 magnums produced. It was bottled in February 2020.