Pittacum la Prohibición 2019

Bodegas Pittacum works in D.O. Bierzo, in the north-west of Castilla y León, where the climate sits between Atlantic and continental influences. La Prohibición is a single-varietal Garnacha Tintorera, the dark-fleshed grape also known as Alicante Bouschet, whose red pulp gives unusually deep colour and tannin. The fruit comes from centenary vines farmed at high density on steep hillsides, where the meagre yields and old wood concentrate the fruit and the manual work is unavoidable. No herbicides are used, and the harvest is picked by hand into small twelve-kilo boxes to keep the bunches intact before a cluster-by-cluster selection. The wine spends twenty-four months in French oak, a long elevage that resolves the grape's naturally hard tannin through slow oxidation while adding coffee, cocoa and cedar. The colour is opaque purple-black. The nose is dark and brooding, with stewed plum, dark chocolate, liquorice and ground black pepper. The palate is full and dense, the tannin substantial but coated by ripe fruit, closing long and savoury. Decant well ahead and serve at 17 degrees. It suits slow-cooked beef and aged cheese.