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Triunfo Cariñena 2017
Cariñena DO
Our friends behind bestsellers El Bombero and La Cantera – award winning Bodegas San Valero – cherish a small vineyard of old, gnarled Cariñena vines (same name as the region). From tiny berries they make this terrific, dark, spicy red – a triumph.
Beyond the Label
Tasting notes
Seriously rich plums, cherries and blueberries with impressive depth
Aroma
Ripe bramble fruits with mocha, wood smoke and warming spice
Cariñena – also known as Carignan – is a grape and a region, upstream from Rioja, which produces “fruity, modern, well made wines that offer fantastic value for money” (Jamie Goode, Harpers). Here the sun beats down so relentlessly on the rugged, mountainous landscape that the best vineyards, like Triunfo, are planted at cooler altitudes of 800 metres or more. Age too plays an important role in quality. Precious, gnarled, old vines – up to 60 years in age – yield only miserly quantities of grapes, but of tremendous concentration. Winemaker Javier Domeque squeezes every last drop from them to craft a wine of intense, spiced, bramble fruit and supple tannins. A tasty red to serve with country pâtés, casseroles or sausages and mash.
For the 2015 vintage
