Regina Vides 2022

Regina Vides is a single-plot red from Hermanos Sastre, the family winery founded in 1992 in D.O. Ribera del Duero in Castile and Leon. It is made entirely from Tinta del Pais, the local Tempranillo, off one defined vineyard parcel farmed with respectful, low-intervention agriculture. Ribera's high continental plateau brings hot dry summers and cold winters, and a marked day-to-night temperature swing that holds acidity while building deep colour and ripe, firm tannin in the thick skins. The wine spends eighteen months in French oak barrels, a long elevage that softens the structure through steady oxygen exchange and layers in vanilla, cedar, cocoa and fine toast, while malolactic fermentation rounds the texture. It is deep, dense ruby. The nose is concentrated black plum and cherry with cocoa, sweet spice, tobacco and a savoury depth. The palate is full and tightly structured, the tannin firm and fine-grained, the fruit dark and persistent through a long finish that will reward several years in the cellar. Serve at 17 to 18 degrees, decanted an hour or more ahead. It calls for roast and grilled red meat.