La Calera del Escaramujo 2020

Following the impressive unbottled sample of the 2019 I tasted last time comes the even more impressive 2020 La Calera del Escaramujo, an old ungrafted Monastrell from 1.67 hectares where there are sandstone, marl and gravel soils all from limestone, which make for a very complete and balanced wine—the sand makes it vibrant, marl makes it long and the gravels give it width. It fermented with 15% full clusters in 1,000-liter oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in 600-liter oak barrels for 16 months. It's tactile and vibrant, with very good freshness, with notes of orange peel, really subtle. The wine is eminently Mediterranean, somehow reminiscent of the Pie Franco from Casa Castillo, powerful and balanced, in a rare combination of concentration and elegance, with incredible parameters, 14.8% alcohol, a pH of 3.24 and 6.8 grams of acidity (measured in tartaric acid per liter). Really impressive. 1,760 bottles were filled in February 2022 and will be released in September 2022.