Artuke El Escolladero 2023

The 2023 El Escolladero, like its siblings, carries lieu-dit information on its label. It's from the lieu-dit of El Meadero (which doesn't sound that nice in Spanish), a 0.95-hectare plot on clay and limestone soils in the village of Ábalos that was planted in 1950 at 660 meters above sea level. It's a little backward and with the seriousness that I noticed in all the 2023s. It's 80% Tempranillo and 20% Graciano (all the wines seem to have more Graciano this year) that ripened to 14.1% alcohol but keeping a pH of 3.42, delivering a powerful and elegant wine. It's juicy, round and young, with abundant, very chalky tannins. The destemmed but uncrushed grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in 600-liter oak foudres for 12 months. 1,300 bottles were filled in December 2024. - Luis Gutiérrez.