2012 El Nido
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Tasting notes
The 2012 El Nido, a blend of 70% Cabernet Sauvignon and 30% Monastrell, is sourced from a dry and warm year, which the Gil family considered lighter, with a more commercial profile of easy-to-drink wines and less longevity than other vintages. The wine was bottled after maturing in French and American oak barrels for some 23 months. It has notes of smoked meat and plenty of spices, ripe black fruit without excess and some earthiness. The palate shows similar tannins as the 2012 Clio, slightly drier than the 2013s, in fact a little too tannic for the fruit. It should need some time to polish those edges but it won't be as long lived as the 2013. 6,000 bottles produced.
Critic scores
Average Score
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Josh Raynolds
More reviews and scores
(raised in a combination of new French and American oak barrels for two years): Opaque purple. The highly expressive bouquet evokes black and blue fruit preserves, pipe tobacco, candied licorice, vanilla and smoky Indian spices. Lush and creamy in texture, with palate-coating cassis and cherry-vanilla flavors that are enlivened by juicy acidity and zesty minerality. The outstandingly powerful, persistent finish has echoing spiciness and a sexy blue fruit liqueur quality. This suave, deeply concentrated wine is the result of what Miguel Gil told me was "a painfully severe selection."