2018 Viña el Pison

Crushed blackberries and blueberries with some flowers, such as violets and lavender. Bark, too. Medium-to full-bodied with layers of ripe, refined tannins with a cool undertone. Plenty of subtle blackberry and wet-earth undertones. From organically grown grapes. Drink after 2024. (02/2022)

The flagship single-vineyard 2018 Viña El Pisón has to be one of the finest vintages for this bottling. It's named after a plot of 2.4 hectares planted in 1945 in the village of Laguardia. The vineyard is an amphitheater with changing soils of limestone, clay and sandstone with a deep combination of limestone and silt. The grapes underwent a 24- to 48-hour cold soak and fermented with indigenous yeasts in oak vats for 10-12 days, during which time the grapes were foot trodden twice per day. It matured in French oak barrels for nine months. There's something mysterious about this Pisón; it's subtle and elegant, a little austere and reticent at first. The palate is seamless, silky with very refined tannins, with gobsmacking balance and a very long, clean and precise finish. This is superb. 6,600 bottles were filled in June 2020.

- Luis Gutiérrez (01/2021)