Bagús 2022

Bagús is made by López Cristóbal, a winery founded in 1994 in Roa, in the heart of Ribera del Duero. The grape is Tinta del País, the local name for Tempranillo, drawn from a single plot of vines more than 80 years old. Ribera del Duero sits on a high plateau where vineyards lie around 800 metres, and the wide gap between hot days and cold nights slows ripening, fixing colour and acidity while the fruit reaches full phenolic maturity. Old vines crop little and root deep, giving concentrated, evenly ripe berries. The wine spends fourteen months in oak, where slow oxygen exchange softens its firm tannins and folds in spice and a fine toast, while malolactic fermentation rounds the acidity. It is deep, opaque purple. The nose is ripe blackberry and black cherry with plum, cocoa, liquorice, tobacco and vanilla over an earthy base. The palate is full bodied and structured, with dense black fruit, firm but ripe tannin and the freshness the altitude preserves, closing long and savoury. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees and decant an hour ahead. It is built for roast and grilled red meat.