【The flagship model was rated 100 points by Robert Parker for two years (2007 & 2009)]
【The 2014 vintage of this wine was ranked 27th in the Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines in the World】
【Old trees 30-50 years old】
【Aged in French + American oak barrels for 16 months】
【James Suckling 91 pts】【Vinous 90 pts】【Vivino 4.4】
ZSP040F Alto Moncayo Veraton 2022 Campo De Borja
Special price: $220/bottle
Origin: Spain/Campo de Borja
Grape variety: 100% Garnacha
Alcohol content: 16%
Vinification: The grapes are between 30 and 50 years old and aged in barrel for 16 months.
Test report: There is a very rich aroma when the bottle is opened, and you can fully feel the representative style of Chris Ringland. On the one hand, it has the strong color of Garnacha grapes, various red fruits, licorice, violets, chocolate, sweet spices, and the sweetness of wolfberries, but the moment it enters the mouth, it is like a New World red wine, refreshing and with excellent acidity and structure. The extremely full body of the wine is accompanied by a little wild breath, but under the thick feeling, the tannins are not rough at all, but very delicate.
【Vinous 90 pts】
The 2022 Garnacha Veraton Garnacha from Campo de Borja agedprimarily 80% in new French and American oak. This is dominated by thebarrel aging, with a nose of vanilla, sandalwood, red fruit candy and roseperfume. Creamy and structured, with acidity in line with the style, this is arich, vigorous red in which the 16% alcohol is well integrated. lt only reallyappears on the finish along with hints of hay.
【Alto Moncayo】
Alto Moncayo Winery is located in the northwest of Spain, in Campo de Borja D.O. (Denominación de Origen). The winery is located at an altitude of 500-800 meters above sea level. It overlooks the local mountain El Moncayo, so the winery is named after this mountain. The winery was established in 2002, only 18 years ago, but it is famous in Spain and even internationally. The reason is that the winery has two products that have won 100 points from Robert Parker. What is the reason for this short-lived winery to achieve such a good result? There are many reasons.
The flagship wine of Alto Moncayo winery is named after the winery. Both the 2007 and 2009 vintages of Alto Moncayo received 100 points from Robert Parker himself. “I gave perfect scores to the prodigious 2007 and 2009, two of the greatest expressions of old vine Grenache from the province of Aragon that anyone could have desire.” Robert Parker’s comments show that the location of the winery fully reflects the characteristics of Campo de Borja D.O., old vine Grenache. Although the winery does not have a long history, it has the oldest Grenache, which is 30-50 years old on average, and the oldest vine can be traced back to 100 years. The wine produced by old vine Grenache will show a more concentrated flavor. Many people believe that old vines are the king, but the editor has another opinion. The reason why the old trees are still alive and can produce grapes after so many years reflects that the terroir of the place is excellent, so the grapes can grow healthily for decades. The fact that the production area can have decades-old vines is evidence of the superior terroir of the area.
Terroir is about time and geography, and then people. The leader of Alto Moncayo has an absolute influence on the performance of the winery. Alto Moncayo's winemaker is the famous Chris Ringland in Australia. Chris Ringland is a New Zealander. He was interested in winemaking when he was a junior high school student. After he became an adult, he went to work at Rockford Winery in southern Australia. He worked in the winery's winemaking team for 15 years and brewed the famous Three River Dry Grown Shiraz during this period， Different vintages received high scores from Robert Parker, and 4 years received full scores of 100 points. In the eyes of many wine drinkers, it is more attractive than Penfolds' Grange. Later, he left Rockford Winery and traveled in Europe to cooperate and communicate with local wineries. Finally, he returned to southern Australia and established a new winery under his own name. He also brought Three River Dry Grown Shiraz under his own name and renamed it Chris Ringland Dry Grown Shiraz to continue his legend. Most of the grapes he selected are old vines, and then small wooden barrels are used for aging to increase the concentration of the wine and make the flavor more concentrated. Chris Ringland brought his experience in handling old vines to the Alto Moncayo Winery in Spain, and brought Alto Moncayo old vines to the extreme, so Alto Moncayo's flagship wine has been well received.
Another person who has a profound influence on Alto Moncayo Winery is Jorge Ordonez, a partner of Alto Moncayo Winery. He plays a pivotal role not only in the winery, but also in the entire Spanish wine industry. Jorge Ordonez vigorously promotes Spanish wines. Previously, most foreign wine drinkers thought that Spanish wines were low-priced and low-quality wines and were difficult to be welcomed by wine drinkers outside of Spain. Jorge Ordonez felt that this was incorrect. Spain has a long-standing winemaking culture and technology, and it is impossible for it to only produce low-quality wines. He found that one of the biggest problems with Spanish wine is storage and transportation. Often after a long period of transportation, the quality of Spanish wine has deteriorated by the time it reaches other parts of Europe and the United States (especially the United States). Therefore, Jorge Ordonez advocates that the temperature should be controlled throughout the transportation process and that constant temperature containers should be used for transportation. At the same time, he advocates that attention should be paid to the weather during transportation. When wine is to be transported to tropical areas, it should be avoided in the hot summer. When stored locally, it should be placed in a constant temperature warehouse. Otherwise, no matter how good the wine is, it will deteriorate due to the temperature, making it impossible for drinkers to appreciate the benefits of Spanish wine. Wine growers and wine merchants from all over Spain think that Jorge Ordonez's proposal is correct and feasible, and everyone follows his example, so now everyone has the opportunity to enjoy high-quality Spanish wine. At the same time, he also organized 8 wineries in 13 different production areas to form an alliance to promote Spanish wine to the world and let the world know the diversity of Spanish wine. Jorge Ordonez's contribution to the Spanish wine industry is unquestionable.
The winery's vineyards are vast, located at the junction of three villages, and are distributed in terraced form. About 62 hectares of Grenache are planted on the southwest slope of the vineyard. The trees are old, generally between 35 and 100 years old. The soil in the vineyard is red clay, rich in iron on the surface, and contains a large amount of red slate. Because it is located on a hillside, the soil has little organic matter. There is a lot of rainfall in the summer and the climate is cool at night, which is conducive to the growth of grapes.
