Avelino Vegas 100 Aniversario 2018

Avelino Vegas has worked from Santiuste de San Juan Bautista since 1950, and the 100 Aniversario was made to mark the centenary of its founder's birth. The wine is Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero, where vineyards sit high on the Castilian plateau on limestone, clay and sand. The altitude brings cold nights against warm days, and that wide diurnal range slows ripening so the fruit holds firm acidity and deep colour while developing concentrated black fruit. The wine is aged in concrete rather than oak. Concrete is inert and allows only a slight, slow contact with oxygen, so the fruit stays clean and primary and the wine keeps the freshness and energy of the site rather than taking on wood flavour. At thirteen percent alcohol it is restrained for the region, built around fruit and structure. The colour is a deep ruby. The nose is intense and primary, with ripe black fruit, cherry, delicate spice and a whisper of toasted nuts. The palate is firm and savoury, the tannin tightly framed by acidity through a long, earthy finish. Serve at sixteen to eighteen degrees with roast lamb, grilled beef or mushroom dishes.