2016 - PS, Aalto, Ribera del Duero

Dark violet color. Impressively complex black and blue fruit, floral and oak spice qualities on the nose; smoky mineral and vanilla flourishes emerge as the wine stretches out. Concentrated and sweet yet lively as well, offering palate-staining boysenberry and cherry cola flavors underscored by a vein of juicy acidity. Shows serious depth of flavor but comes off graceful, with polished tannins framing an impressively long, penetrating and focused finish.

I tasted an unbottled sample of the 2016 PS, which was the final blend waiting to be bottled in a couple of weeks. It's quite oaky—marked by the élevage of 19 months in new French oak—spicy, toasty and creamy. It has a full-bodied palate with abundant, fine-grained tannins. This will need time in bottle. It's a wine aimed for fans of powerful, concentrated and generously oaked wines. They expect to fill some 40,000 bottles in late June 2018.

100% Tempranillo from 80- to 100-year-old vines. 20 months in new French oak. Mid-deep ruby-purple. Clove, cordite and cinnamon oak, with again a touch of orange peel. Ripe blackberry and black-cherry fruit beneath the oak cloak. Robust, dense, compact tannins of a classic, modern-style Ribera, but there is the fruit weight to match it. A vin de garde – if nothing else, to let the oak integrate! (TJ)