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Tasting notes
Saturated ruby. Assertive aromas of cassis, blackberry, cherry preserves, vanilla and potpourri, plus oak spice and mineral topnotes. Alluringly sweet and concentrated, offering intense black and blue fruit, mocha, bitter chocolate and candied lavender flavors supported by an undercurrent of juicy acidity. Steadily building tannins add shape and grip to an extremely long, juicy finish that emphatically echoes the dark berry and floral notes.
Critic scores
Average Score
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Julia Harding MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
I find the 2015 PS to be a little marked by the élevage from a dry and warm year that resulted in a concentrated wine. The grapes come from La Horra, La Aguilera and Hontoria, and they used a little more grapes from La Horra. This is a ripe, heady, concentrated Tempranillo with abundant, grainy tannins. It's a wine for fans of the style and needs several years in bottle to balance its tannins. This reaches 15% alcohol. It's a different style from the regular Aalto from this same year, but it's not necessarily better, just a matter of taste. 35,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2017.
Even better, the 2015 Aalto PS (Pagos Seleccionada) is 100% Tinto Fino brought up all in French oak. From vineyards planted 80 to100 years ago, it offers drop dead gorgeous notes of black fruits, toasty oak, lead pencil, and liquid violets. Deep, layered, and powerful on the palate, with full-bodied richness and a huge finish, drink this pure, balanced Ribera del Duero anytime over the coming two decades. I wouldn’t be surprised if it keeps even longer.
Deep crimson. Less immediately aromatic than the straight Aalto, more tucked in and even darker and more concentrated. Very intense, oaky, chewy texture. Not really the sort of wine I choose to drink but nicely balanced in its oaky, dark-fruited way. Wait. (JH)