Cepa 21 2011 75cl

This aromatic red is graceful on the palate, with cherry, strawberry, licorice and vanilla notes mingling over light tannins, kept lively by bright acidity. Has a tender texture, but shows depth and focus. Drink now through 2021.—T.M

I found the 2011 Cepa 21 very oaky. It is Tempranillo from 15-year-old slope vineyards planted higher up on clay and chalk soils, and aged for one year in French oak barrel. The nose is a mixture of sweet spices, sawdust, smoke, dark chocolate, roasted coffee and ripe black berries, with the oak at the forefront and the fruit in the background. The palate also shows abundant, dusty tannins that coat your tongue with a soft astringency, coupled with lowish acidity. Perhaps the riper vintage -- compared with 2010 -- has taken more of the oak, so I'd give it a little bit of time to come into better balance as it did with time in the glass and plenty of aeration, showing more balsamic hints plus notes of anise seed and fennel. Both this wine and the entry level Hito are now closed with Diam. 200,000 bottles produced. Cepa 21 is the joint venture of the Moro family with some other partners. Here they want to produce fresh wines from north-facing, high-altitude vineyards where the vegetative cycle is longer. While in Emilio Moro the hierarchy is defined by vine age, here the definitive parameter is altitude. They have 25 hectares that were planted from their massale selection from the Emilio Moro Valderramiro vineyard in Castrillo de Duero. They are now in search of more concentration in the wines while keeping the elegance, and they have changed the labels to a cleaner style featuring the words Tempranillo and España, two concepts that they want to exploit in their wines.