Jardín de las Iguales Tinto 2016

The new top bottlings of red and white come from a single vineyard, which is exceptionally old and planted on slate soils. The red 2016 El Jardín de las Iguales Garnacha contains 10% white Macabeo grapes and fermented in a 1,000-liter oak vat with 40% stems and indigenous yeasts. It matured in French oak barriques. This has a different profile, subtler, with great perfume, an herbal side, spicy and floral, with some citrus-like freshness. It's extremely elegant and vibrant, yet shows restraint, a wine that really transported me to the vineyard where these old vines grow, showing it has a true sense of place. It's quite unique, coming from a zone (Alpartir), where the old timers considered the best wines from the zone, to be produced. I think they have discovered something really important here. I previewed the 2017 and even the fermenting 2018, and the wines show a common thread. 1,250 bottles were filled in January 2018.