Phinca San Julián 2017

From one of their wildest vineyards and one that produces a characterful wine, the 2017 Phinca San Julián was hand destemmed and fermented in open-top barrels, and then it matured in brand new 225-liter oak barrels. But the wine is not oaky and seems to have taken the élevage quite well. It's detailed, floral and elegant, with a fresh palate, very fine tannins and also a note of graphite. It's perfumed but serious, somewhere between Burgundy and Bordeaux, with a Burgundian nose and a Bordelais palate. This is the one wine that comes from a plot in the neighboring village of Laguardia. This was also waiting in tank to be bottled when I first tasted it, and the bottled wine should be exactly as I tasted it. It seems like the most powerful year has integrated the oak better. The bottled version tasted a few weeks later had all the unbottled sample promised and more—it felt fresh and harmonious and a great triumph over the vintage. Bravo! Only 990 bottles produced.

Phinca San Julian is David Sampedro's oldest vineyard, planted before 1910, although no one is exactly sure when. Dense, tannic and concentrated, it's also his most powerful and concentrated wine with considerable weight, extraction, alcohol and concentration and aromas of wild Mediterranean herbs. 2022-28