La Viña Escondida 2016

I was really looking forward to the 2016 Viña Escondida, one of my favorite wines from Gredos in a cold and challenging vintage that provided the circumstances to deliver fresh wines. It fermented with 100% full clusters after a 10-day cold soak. It matured in a 2,000-liter French oak vat for 18 months. This has the freshness of the high altitude, the granite soils and the cooler year. It's subtle, elegant and nuanced, with more red fruit than black. They don't want overripe wines, but they don't want them very light either, so the wines always have weight and good ripeness. This has superb balance, very fine tannins and vibrant acidity—it's high-pitched and makes you salivate. This is elegant and supple, complete and harmonious. This has to be the finest wine they have bottled to date. This is approachable now, but it should develop nicely with time in bottle. 2,150 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2018.