Dominio de Es La Mata 2020

Intriguing nose, full of Mediterranean herbs and airy red and black berries. Some mineral, licorice, violet and black sesame, too. Dense, dry and chalky on the palate, highlighting transparency and power at the same time. Juicy and tight, with a long and mineral finish. The nose is already beautiful, but give this a few years to let the palate soften more. Drink from 2025.

Their small plot in the La Mata Valley is the only one with a streak of clay, and the bottled 2020 La Mata (which I already tasted from barrel), which comes from a generous crop, is the most powerful of the single-vineyard bottlings. It's from a 0.2-hectare plot (in the process of obtaining organic certification) that was already registered in 1904 (but is probably older) planted mostly with Tempranillo and some white Albillo and Alicante Bouschet (Garnacha Tintorera). It fermented in an oak cask with 53 days of maceration and matured in four new Burgundian barrels for 17 months. It's only 13.02% alcohol and has a pH of 3.73, and the long élevage in new barrels has made it a bit shy and austere and seems to have covered the floral character of the younger wine from when I tasted it almost one and a half years ago. These 2020s are going to require more time in bottle to show their true colors and to polish the abundant and slightly dusty tannins. 970 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2022.