Cuando El Río Suena 2023

Baluarte is the contemporary range from Grupo Chivite, a Navarrese house producing wine since 1975 and now working across several regions. Cuando el Río Suena is its Ribera del Duero red, made from Tempranillo and built to show fruit before structure. Ribera del Duero lies high on the northern Spanish plateau, where a continental climate and a wide diurnal range let the grapes ripen fully while holding onto acidity, which keeps a young wine like this fresh and lively. The wine spends six months in French and American oak, a short maturation that rounds the tannins and adds a light frame of vanilla and sweet spice without covering the fruit. It is bright cherry red. The nose is open and direct, with raspberry, red cherry and ripe plum lifted by a touch of oak spice. The palate is medium bodied and juicy, the tannins soft and the finish clean. This is a red to drink young and often rather than to cellar. Serve at 16 degrees. It works with roast pork, grilled chicken and tomato based pasta.