El Vínculo Crianza 2021

El Vínculo Crianza is produced in Campo de Criptana in D.O. La Mancha, at one of the four wineries of Familia Fernández Rivera, the family behind some of Spain's best-known reds. The wine comes from old Tempranillo vineyards on some of the area's better sites, where the high, dry continental plateau brings hot days and cold nights and very low rainfall; the stress of this climate on old, low-yielding vines concentrates the fruit and gives ripe, structured wines from a region better known for volume. The wine ages eighteen months in American oak, a long crianza in which sustained oxygen exchange rounds the tannins and adds the vanilla, coconut and sweet spice typical of American wood. The colour is deep and dense. The nose is generous, with ripe blackberry and plum lifted by vanilla, cocoa and a light spice. The palate is full and structured, smooth on entry and long on the finish, with ripe dark fruit, sweet oak and firm but polished tannins. Serve at 16 to 18 degrees, decanted, with grilled red meats, roast lamb and aged hard cheeses.