2023 Cantalapiedra Viticultores Arenisca Los Pilones

$51.00

This cuvée comes from three parcels in the village of Villabuena del Puente, planted to Tinta de Toro (the local expression of Tempranillo) with a small addition of 5% white grapes. The 20–50 years old vines are trained in the traditional goblet style at low density and grow on sandstone soils at 780m. Manuel Cantalapiedra farms organically and takes a low-intervention approach in the cellar.

Grapes are hand-harvested into small 15kg crates. Around 80% are destemmed and gently crushed before fermenting in stainless steel, while the remaining 20% are fermented as whole clusters in open-top vats. Fermentation lasts just over three weeks. After pressing, the wine is aged for eleven months in French oak barrels of varying sizes (225–500 litres). The barrels are blended prior to bottling, without fining or filtration.

30 in stock

The finished wine is expressive and generous, showing intense blackberry and plum fruit, layered with notes of tobacco and forest floor. The palate is rich and full-bodied, yet lifted by a vibrant freshness that carries through to a long, satisfying finish.

Luis Gutiérrez, The Wine Advocate

The entry-level red 2020 Arenisca comes from vineyards in Toro on sandy soils with a limestone mother rock. It fermented destemmed in open-top tanks with indigenous yeasts and matured in used French oak barrels of di!erent sizes. In Toro, 2020 was quite healthy (especially compared with Rueda), and they got good yields, higher than in 2019 and the wine is more fluid despite being powerful. The wine achieved 14.9% alcohol and has good freshness and acidity. There’s power and rusticity, the Toro character, but there’s also freshness and a certain elegance, with a profile quite di!erent from the wines from nowadays in the zone. In 2020, he destemmed everything and did a soft vinification, an infusion, a short-ish maceration to avoid excessive extraction. The oak is neatly integrated, and the wine is aromatic and expressive, very pleasant to drink. 12,300 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2021. 92+ points