2015 - Finca Allende Mingortiz, Rioja

(all new French oak) Limpid violet color. Smoke-accented red berries, cherry pie, incense and mocha aromas show impressive clarity and spicy lift. Offers expansive, palate-staining red fruit preserve and vanilla. Floral pastille flavors flesh out steadily on the back half. The floral note carries through a very long, lively finish that's given shape by gentle, harmonious tannins.

The 2015 Mingortiz is pure Tempranillo from an organically farmed vineyard in Briones that gives the wine its name. It was planted in 1964, a south-facing plot with limestone-rich soils at 515 meters altitude that give the wine length and elegance. The uncrushed grapes fermented in an oak vat after a six-day cold soak. Malolactic was in barrel, same as the élevage, which was in brand new French barriques and lasted 16 months. It's not a shy wine and hits the scales at 15% alcohol. It's ripe but harmonious, modern, clean and expressive, with the chalky tannins that give that serious mouthfeel. It should be long lived. 9,000 bottles were filled unfiltered and unfined in April 2017. Both this and Gamindez used to contribute to the blend of the red Allende.