Chafandín 2022

Chafandín comes from Viñas del Jaro in the Ribera del Duero, the high plateau of Castilla y León where Tempranillo dominates. The fruit is a single Tempranillo from the Pago de Chafandín, off vines of around forty years that crop small concentrated bunches. Wide swings between hot days and cold nights at altitude slow ripening and hold acidity, so the grapes reach full phenolic maturity while keeping freshness. The wine macerates on its skins for 17 days to extract colour and tannin, ferments over 12 days at 26C, then completes malolactic fermentation, which converts sharp malic acid into softer lactic acid and rounds the texture. Ageing runs for 21 months in French oak barrels, where slow oxygen exchange through the staves settles the tannins and adds vanilla and cedar. The colour is deep cherry red. The nose leads with ripe plum and black cherry over liquorice, tobacco and sweet baking spice. The palate is full and structured, the tannins firm but ripe, the oak woven through dark fruit to a long savoury finish. Serve at 17C and decant an hour ahead. Good with roast lamb, grilled beef and aged Manchego.