Estuche Abadía Retuerta Selección Especial 2019 (x3)

The 2019 Selección Especial, cropped from a warm and dry year, is composed of 64% Tempranillo, 15% Cabernet sauvignon, 14% Syrah, 6% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot and has 14.5% alcohol, coming through as riper than the 2020 I tasted next to it. It's also darker, round and powerful, with plenty of tannins, wide and concentrated. This is from a warm year, with lower yields, and it's a very powerful wine, balsamic with notes of aromatic herbs, a little more Mediterranean. 369,610 bottles produced and bottled in 27 lots after one year in barrel.

In 2022, they obtained their single-vineyard appellation, Denominación de Origen Protegida Abadía Retuerta, that can be retroactive to previous vintages. Pago Negralada, Pago la Raya (white Le Domaine) and Viñedo Histórico will obtain organic certification, and in the next four years the whole of their 193 hectares of vineyards will obtain the certification too. Current production averages 600,000 bottles. They make serious, modern, ripe, generously oaked wines designed for the long haul. - Luis Gutiérrez. 

Profound and intense nose with some tapenade, black beans and cocoa powder that gives depth to the already deep blackberries. Hints of dark spices and cigar box, too. Plenty of palpable tannins evenly melt into full-bodied palate with juicy dark fruit. Brooding and long finish. Cabernet sauvignon, syrah, merlot and petit verdot. Drink or hold. - Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor

Black fruit compote, red fruit, wood spice and spicy nose. The palate is full-bodied and muscular with a firm structure. Good ageing potential.