Finca Moncloa Tintilla de Rota Edición Limitada 2020

Finca Moncloa sits in Cadiz, in Andalusia, a corner of southern Spain better known for Palomino and Pedro Ximenez. Before the phylloxera crisis of the late nineteenth century, the region grew a far wider range of grapes, and Tintilla de Rota was one of the few dark varieties to survive, resisting the louse in the soft, shifting sandy soils where its roots could not be reached. This limited edition is a single-variety Tintilla de Rota, farmed for a ripe, concentrated style in the warm Cadiz climate. The wine spends twelve months in French and American oak barrels, where the two woods add complementary spice, French oak lending finer woodspice and American oak a rounder, sweeter note, while slow oxygen exchange builds structure and softens the tannin. At 14.5 per cent it is full and warming. The colour is deep and dark. The nose shows ripe plum and red berries with black pepper, liquorice, clove and a layer of dark chocolate from the oak. The palate is bold and structured, with dense fruit, firm tannin and a long, spiced finish. It is vegan friendly. Serve at seventeen to eighteen degrees, decanted, in a large glass. It suits robust roast and grilled meat.