2019 Paganos El Puntido Magnum

The Puntido vineyards are owned by the Eguren family and the Puntido comes from only 1 vineyard where only the Tempranillo grape is grown. The vineyard is more than 45 years old and is located quite high. A solid, well-balanced red wine. Can be drunk but will get better and better as the years go by and can certainly be imposed until 2030. The wine is aged in French oak for 16-18 months and then receives a number of years of bottle aging before the wine is released on the market. The Puntido vineyard is 25 Has. (61.74 acres) located at an elevation of 600 on a soils of calcareous clay composition with a deep sandy rocky subsoil. The vineyard was planted in 1975 with a high density so that the vines have to work and root deeply due to the competition. Biological fertilization every 2 years. The final yield is very low and only half of what is allowed with only 18.2 hl/ha. The production is completely ecological with respect for the environment according to the biorhythm of the plant. Extensive manual selection and harvesting in crates with perfectly healthy, ripe grapes.

The tempranillo grapes are harvested by hand at the end of September with pre-fermentative maceration for 3 days at 6 ° C with native yeast selected from their own vineyards, with very light pumping movements and a light aeration to obtain complete extraction. The alcoholic fermentation lasts about 10 days. and is temperature controlled between 28 and 30 degrees Celsius and a post-fermentative maceration of approx. 8 days. After this, the wine is transferred to new French oak barriques barrels where the malolactic fermentation will take place and the wine is allowed to spend around 16 months in the new French oak and then another 6 months in a stainless steel tank and then the wine is bottle-aged for another year before being becomes available (ie approx. 3.5 years after harvest).

The Puntido has a dark garnet red color. In the nose there is a multitude of scents and layers such as mineral notes, ripe fruit, liqueur and chocolate and a background of white flowers and a little leather. Furthermore, as the wines 'open', we still smell grilled bread, black cherries and berries. In the mouth it is powerful, with a good balance between ripe fruit and oak, with round tannins. The wine is full bodied and screams for roasted, grilled or baked (refined) meat. This wonderful wine is a gastronomic champ. This is a 1.5 liter magnum. A gem on the table and even tastier (and drinkable for longer).

The Spanish winery Viñedos de Paganos is an exclusive winery and is one of the beautiful wineries of Hermanos Eguren.

GOOD FACT: This wine from the beautiful 2017 Rioja vintage was only released in the midst of the COVID pandemic. Reviewers like Parker couldn't travel to judge the wine. Respected high-end wineries will never blindly send wines and always taste together with the wine journalists to tell the full story, so for that reason there are no reviews of this vintage. This also applies, for example, to many high-end bordeaux houses such as Moutin, Petrus, etc., which only had a taste when this was physically and on location possible again.