2015 - Finca Allende Gaminde, Rioja

(raised in new French oak barrels) Deep, lurid ruby. Powerful, deeply perfumed scents of ripe red/blue fruits, potpourri and incense, along with oak spice, vanilla and smoky mineral accents. Sweet and broad on the palate, offering plush black raspberry, cherry-vanilla and floral pastille flavors that are enlivened by a core of juicy acidity and a jolt of peppery spices. Finishes sweet and impressively long, showing outstanding clarity and velvety tannins that blend harmoniously with the wine's sappy fruit.

One of two new vineyard-designated reds produced for the first time in 2015, the 2015 Gaminde was sourced from a plot planted in Briones back in 1942 at 495 meters of altitude on clay and gravel soils. The bunches were selected, then the grapes were sorted by a new optical machine and put to ferment uncrushed in a French oak vat after a cold soak. Malolactic was in barrel followed by 16 months in new French barriques. This comes from red soils with clay, soils that tend to deliver more fruit-forward wines, a little baroque, juicy and tasty. It's quite fruit-driven, with glossy tannins, balsamic with more volume. A showy, ripe, modern Rioja with some lactic hints. 9,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2017.