Chobeo de Peciña 2014

Chobeo de Pecina is a single varietal Tempranillo from Rioja, Spain, made by Bodegas Hermanos Pecina in the Rioja Alta sub zone. The grapes are picked by hand and carried to the winery in small 15 kilo boxes so the berries stay intact, then passed across a selection table. The bunches are destemmed gently using gravity and fall into the tanks, where the wine begins with a semi carbonic maceration, fermenting in part within whole berries to draw out bright fruit and supple tannins. A full alcoholic fermentation of about 15 days follows, with a further 20 days of maceration on the skins to build colour and structure. The wine then ages nine months in American oak barrels, which through slow oxygen exchange add the sweet vanilla, coconut and dill tones typical of that wood while softening the tannins. With bottle age this 2014 has developed savoury complexity. The wine is deep ruby with a garnet rim, and a nose of red and dark berry, cherry, vanilla, leather and tobacco. The palate is medium to full bodied, with ripe fruit, fine tannins, fresh acidity and an earthy, mature finish. Serve at 16 to 17 degrees. A classic with roast lamb.