2021 Finca Sandoval Salia

Parker writes: It is an impressive, ridiculously low priced beauty. This is an impressive wine. Dark red with beautiful black fruit such as cherries and blackberries and very beautiful wood tones of cigar, leather and cedar. This is a seductive, sturdy wine with a good combination of acidity, power and beautifully blended tannins. The aftertaste is very nice.

The Winemaker

Victor de la Serna is deputy director of the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, wine author and gastronomic chronicler for more than 30 years. He has founded a new wine estate in the Manchuela region, in the South-East of Spain and 130 km from Valencia. He is the son of Victor de la Serna Gutiérrez-Répide, one of the founders of the l'Académie Internationale du Vin, founded in 1971, of which he was its second president. His son has been a member since 1999. Victor de la Serna has written numerous articles on viticulture and wine culture (El Mundo, Sibaritas, Decanter, Wine & Spirits) and has been awarded two Spanish Gastronomic Awards. In 2010 he chaired the jury of the International Wine Challenge in London.

The area
High-altitude (northeast) vineyards (approx. 600 m. alt.) southeast of Madrid. Calcareous clay soil with both sand and pebble influences. Everything is aimed at achieving quality through small yields (between 19 and 29 hl/ha). The grapes are harvested manually when the wood is optimally ripe (brown colored stems and nut-tasting kernels). Slightly bruised and destemmed and a long, cold soak before fermentation starts including pigeage (breaking the grape cake). During fermentation, the wine is transferred to oak barrels for further fermentation and the malic acid fermentation with stirring of the fine yeast spores. The vinification process takes 18 to 20 days. A third new wood: Vosges and Allier and some new barrels from the French Tonnelier Demptos, but made from American oak.