Phinca Hapa Elvillar Tinto 2016

The red 2016 Phinca Hapa Tinto is from the same plot used for the white, as the lower parts were planted with Tempranillo in 1967. There is also some Graciano in the blend. The full clusters fermented in concrete vats with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 500-liter French oak barrels for one year. There is great freshness and perfume, wild flowers and berries, mild spices and a fine palate. This has a different style due to being fermented with full clusters, a little lighter and fruit forward, with a shorter élevage, different and quite approachable. 7,000 bottles were filled in November 2017. This is the first year they worked this vineyard, and it's an impressive debut.

Light orange color, this has a couple of months of skin fermentation and the result is a smooth, succulent and deeply juicy white with toasty peach-pit and orange-rind flavors. Great depth. Drink or hold.

Phinca Hapa is an exciting new project run by American Melanie Hickman, who is the partner of David Sampedro of Bodegas Bhilar. This is an orange wine made with skin contact from an old vine parcel of Viura and Malvasía planted high above the village of Elvillar. Complex and challenging, it has lovely quince, orange marmalade and black tea notes.