93/100 Punkte Robert Parker June 2019

One of two new single-vineyard reds, the 2017 El Espinal comes from a plot in San Vicente de la Sonsierra at 650 meters in altitude, on sandysoils with clay and limestone surrounded by pine trees. Theparticularity here is that Maturana Tinta (a.k.a. Castests, a relativeof Carmenere) was regrafted on Garnacha some 25 years ago, and this is avarietal Maturana, which is quite rare. It fermented in 225-literbarrels and matured in 600-liter barrels for 15 months. There is moreconcentration and more of everything, including the peppery and herbalaromas, and a pungent note of freshly cracked back peppercorn on thepalate. It's a more powerful and long-lived year, and it's impossible toguess as Rioja because the profile is completely Atlantic and would foolalmost everybody in a blind tasting. So, it's not for you if you hatethe herbal character of the Bordeaux wines. 1,200 bottles were filled inMarch 2019.