1996 Abadía Retuerta El Campanario

Darkest ruby color. Spicy black raspberry, violet, licorice and toast aromas lifted by a chalky minerality. Fleshy entry, then very tight and backward, with powerful acids. A distinctly tougher style of wine, wrapped up in its own structure today. This will need several years of bottle aging to express itself. There will also be later-bottled special cuvees of 100% tempranillo and 100% cabernet from the '96 vintage, to be released next spring; barrel samples of these extremely impressive wines merited scores in the 93-95 range. (Fine Estates From Spain, Dedham, MA)

Author: Stephen Tanzer

Issue: September/October 1998

Firm and polished, this wine is closed right now but shows concentration and balance, with notes of toast, coffee and cassis. Modern in style, it comes off as a bit too sculpted. Tasted three times, with consistent notes.

Author: Thomas Matthews

The 100% Tempranillo 1996 Cuvee Campanario represents a blend of the finest parcels of Tempranillo. The wine was aged in 100% new French Limousin oak for 16 months, then bottled without filtration. It reveals a saturated purple color, and is more backward both aromatically and on the palate, as well as more impressive. The wine's bouquet falls in the black fruit spectrum of aromas - blackberries, black raspberries, and overripe cherries. Full-bodied and tightly-knit, with intriguing mineral notes, this powerful, rich, layered wine could easily pass for a top-class Bordeaux in a blind tasting. The result of 28 days of maceration, the high tannin is sweet and well-integrated in the wine's framework. However, I would not recommend drinking this offering for 2-3 more years.

Author: Robert Parker