Telmo Rodriguez, D.O Ribera del Duero
Ribera del Duero is all about Tinto fino or Tinto del país, which produces intense, deeply coloured, full-bodied wines. High altitude vineyards are cultivated in an austere, almost moor-like landscape with narrow valleys based on sand and limestone soils. The harshness of the climate requires heroic dedication on the part of the grape grower.
Telmo Rodriguez is the 'enfant terrible' of the Spanish wine scene, having upset the traditionalists with his implicit (and at times highly vocal) criticisms of poorly controlled oxidative handling, poor viticulture and lack of respect for terroir. Telmo's Ribera del Duero wines are entirely handmade, biologically grown and matured for 18 months in new French barriques. Although beautifully made, with great finesse and integration, these beg for at least 3 years' cellaring to allow regional perfume, earth, and all the many layers of complexity to really express.
Image courtesy of ©Jason Orton
| Wine | Region | RRP | Qty | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Ribera del Duero |
$37.00 |
12 |
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Plum-cola, tobacco and some dark, earthy minerality, it’s a nose that speaks softly but clearly that it’s a Ribera. The cold metal minerality threads all the way through a bright purply-briary palate, juice thickened with plush-dry fruit tannin, it’s all velvety and studded with spice. |
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Ribera del Duero |
$72.00 |
6 |
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Leather, tobacco, anise, gravel, blue-flowers, dense and deft - even in youth it has perfume, not smell. Savoury-leathery palate with immaculate fruit tannin holding fine oak very close … a lashing of fine minerals, saturated blue fruits and exuberant blue-note perfume down back. Everything emerges. Savoury-yet-fruited, super. |
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Ribera del Duero |
$245.00 |
6 |
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A truly great modern, bio-dynamic old-vine Tempranillo. Blue flowers fossilised in dried blood, fantastic concentration, but always savoury, never OTT with fruit sweetness-the glycerol is at the same time terrifically minerally. There's an incredibly long, twining structure down the back straight, with wonderful natural fruit tannins and acid wrapping and rolling with the oak, form a holistic unit. |
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