Heredad del Barón 2005

Tasting note
Colour - Deep ruby.

Aroma - Warm, spicy dark black fruits - damson, plum, cherry.

Taste - Big mouthful of ripe, jammy blackberry character with excellent concentration. Rich, long and spicy.

	Type:Still Red Wine		Country:Spain		Appellation:Yecla DO
	Grape Type:Red blend		Drink Before:End of 2012		Body:Rich and Flavoursome
	Alcohol:14.5%		Bottle Size:75cl		Bottle Code:39426

Description
"Arguably the best wines of Yecla" is how John Radford describes the bottles from Bodegas Castaño in Yecla, while Robert Parker regularly awards its wines 90 points or above and described one as "a cutting edge effort from one of Spain's backwaters, but soon to be famous appellations".

This third generation family cellar was founded in 1975 and is credited for starting the quality 'ball' rolling in Yecla. Ramón Calero constructed the first winery and started building up the estate's vineyards. Over the decades, he added the latest technology to the winery including a new bottling line in the 1980s (the first in the region). He was joined by his three sons, Ramón, Juan Pedro and Daniel, and the bodega started exporting in the 1990s, spreading the message of quality in Yecla throughout the world.

In this part of eastern Spain, the Monastrell grape is dominant. It's the same as Mourvèdre found in the pricy wines of Bandol and in small amounts in the southern Rhône and the Languedoc, where it's warm and dry enough to ripen. This variety lends a spicy, smoky, gamey note along with its dark blackberry fruits, while equal portions of Bordeaux's Cabernet and Merlot - rare for this part of Spain - bring deep cassis and smooth plum character. Four months ageing in half French and half American oak barrels lend just the right amount of toasty complexity to the mellow fruit.

International Wine Challenge 2007, United Kingdom