CVNERealdeAsuaCarromaza2020

<p>CVNE Real de Asua Carromaza, Rioja Alta, Spain, 2020Grapes: 100% Tempranillo, 30 year old vines on a 2.37ha sandy plot in Carromaza (village of Villalba), hand harvested, wild yeast fermentation in old oak vats, malolactic in new French oak, aged 12 months in French oak (new & second use barrels)Producer Tasting Note:This is a cherry-coloured, brooding wine. The aromatic intensity gives us a wide range of aromas. We can find the fruits from the forest, highlighting blueberries and gooseberries, licorice and aromas from the ageing in French oak barrels, such as clove, smoked or roasted flavours, toffees, etc. Complex, floral, its entrance is smooth with a step marked by a tannin that is perfectly balanced with the unctuousness of the wine.Critics’ Tasting Notes:”Such purity and clarity to the wine with blackberries, blackcurrants, violets and orange peel. Medium to full body and fine tannins. Polished, bright, vivid and agile. Powdery tannins with wonderful length and finesse. Savory, too. Give it three to four years of bottle age.”97/100 points, JAMES SUCKLING”The second release on the Place de Bordeaux of this ‘more modern’ wine from the established Spanish winery says CVNE CEO and fifth-generation family member Victor Urrutia made from the 2.37ha plot of 30-year-old Tempranillo grapes known as Carromaza in the village of Villalba, 700m high in Rioja Alta. From the fresh and cool 2020 vintage, this is intensely fragrant, verging on heady aromatics on the nose; baked plum, strawberries and soft aniseed, cinnamon and clove spices. Supple and so smooth but with a crushed velvet edge giving weight and texture. Instantly satisfying on the palate with delicate, yet enrobing tannins that give structure and support but don’t overwhelm the crunchy, ripe and fleshy fruit. Acidity is high and perfectly balances the warming underlying elements. Rich, sumptuous, seductive but with poise and nuance – everything feels well defined with the most delicious juiciness on the mid palate. Bright, shiny, alive and utterly drinkable. Wild yeast fermentation. Ageing 12 months in new and one year old French oak barrels. 3.6pH. 95 IPT.”97/100 points, Georgina Hindle, DECANTER.COM, August 2023″The 2020 Real de Asúa is a wine that changed in 2018 when it started being produced exclusively with Tempranillo from the lieu-dit Carromaza in the village of Villalba. 2020 was warm, and the grapes were picked two weeks earlier than in 2019. The grapes are harvested in 300-kilo palot containers and fermented after a cold soak in small oak vats with indigenous yeasts. Malolactic was in French oak barrels, and the aging was in new and second-use barriques and lasted 12 months. This feels quite classical, balanced and serious. The nose is subtle, elegant and quite impressive, with notes of herbs and a touch of mustard; it’s fresh and well above the expectation from a year like 2020. Today, I prefer this to the 2021. 12,453 bottles were filled in March 2023.” Drink 2026-203396+/100 points, Luis Gutiérrez, WINE ADVOCATE, February 2024Also rated 95/100 points by both Wine Independent and Jane Anson (Inside Bordeaux).Compañia Vinicola del Norte de España(or CVNE, or Cune) is an historic wine producer in theRioja region of Spain. The original winery was established in the railway district of Haro in 1879. The Asúa project pays tribute to the founders of CVNE, the Real de Asúa brothers. The Asúa wines are made exclusively with grapes from Haro, where the soils are clay-calcareous and clay-ferrous, a continental climate with a marked Atlantic influence and vineyards located over 500 meters above sea level.CVNE Real de Asua Carromaza 2020</p>