El Puntido 2015

The 2015 El Puntido Gran Reserva is open and expressive from minute one. It was produced with grapes from the 25 hectares planted in the vineyard that names the wine, trellised vines planted in 1975 at 600 meters altitude on clay and limestone soils. It fermented in stainless steel and aged in new French oak barrels for 28 months. It's surprisingly aromatic, with a very clear and refreshing note of cinnamon—it reminds me of the rice pudding from my grandmother—with some creamy notes. Marcos Eguren told me the wine usually surprises people, because even at age 10 when it's released, it still has the red fruit character but also shows some notes of iodine, barely showing its age. It's textured and rich, cropped from a warm and dry year, but the sandstone keeps the humidity to maintain the vines; the wine is powerful and has a young profile and tannins that still need to be resolved with some years in bottle and/or powerful food. It comes in with 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.72 and 4.93 grams of acidity. 7,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2017.