2020 Pago de Carraovejas

The Pago de Carraovejas is an almost bordeaux wine and is incomparable to other Ribera del Dueros. The 2020 vintage is a blend of mainly Tempranillo with some Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot (92% Tinto Fino, 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and 3% Merlot). The wine is very complex and nicely proportioned. Nothing dominates and when smelling and tasting, various layers are released over time. Cedar, Asian herbs, violets, tapenade, and blackberry aromas on the nose. In the mouth fruit with soft wood tannins with a small vanilla note from education in American oak. The taste is medium to full bodied and very balanced with fine, tight tannins and a silky texture. In terms of style, this wine can be compared to an Aalto from his good years and that is not surprising since the former winemaker and director Javier Zaccagnini of Aalto has worked closely with Pago de Carraovejas and Javier Zaccagnini has also owned Ossian which is currently now also falls under Pago de Carraovejas group.

Pago de Carraovejas is the most honest reflection of the valley from which it takes its name. The Tempranillo, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot vines are spread over different slopes of the Valley of Carraovejas located in a wilderness at an altitude of over 900 meters. The vineyards are planted on tertiary soil. Loamy limestone emerges on the surface, with the presence of clay, sandstone and gypsum with the characteristic white tint. It is an austere soil, which subjects the vines to an attempt to control the yield themselves and to give the best of themselves. These are soils that force the vines to self-regulate and do their best. The vineyards are distributed from the middle zones up to more than 900 meters; from the gentle undulation that descends to the stream, to plots with a gradient of more than 30%. Slopes facing south and north, each with their own personality, outline the profile of the Carraovejas Valley.

The grapes for the Pago de Carraovejas were harvested by hand after careful monitoring during the ripening period and after a first selection in the vineyard. Subsequently, a double selection takes place in the winery: from bunches and berries. After picking, it remains in a temperature-controlled cooling room and from there after the selection tables for the 2nd selection. The grapes are only crushed (gravity) and so the free flow juice is used to preserve its purest and freshest aromas. The wine is fermented with its own yeast under close control and then undergoes malolactic fermentation with the estate's native microbiota. In December, the wine was moved to French and American oak barrels, where it remained for about 12 months. The whole process was dictated by calmness, rigor and gravity and this makes the wine unique in its kind and makes a wine of outstanding quality.

ABOUT VINTAGE 2022
After very little rain in 2019, the 2020 harvest was marked by a winter of abundant rainfall. The vineyard managed to maintain its water reserve, allowing the vegetative cycle of the vineyard to develop with excellent balance and homogeneity. Spontaneous and sown vegetative cover crops were used to control vigor. There was widespread bud break at the end of April and no weather or health incidents were recorded. As there was no interference in the development and evolution of the buds, excellent yields were achieved in the vineyard, which were balanced thanks to the thinning technique. The harvest started on September 14 and ended on October 10. The grapes of Pago de Carraovejas 2020 were harvested early in the morning after a first selection. Then a double selection was made in the winery: bunches and berries and everything goes through gravity so no use of pumps (Gravity-flow winemaking)

Fact: In addition to Ossian , the Pago Carraojevas group has also included the beautiful winery Viña Mein located in Galicia. Great wines made with a sea injection. At the end of 2020, the group (Alma Carraovejas) added Milsetentayseis La Peña (wines from very old Pre-Phylloxera sticks) and the iconic wines (always between 95-100 parker points) from Emilio Rojo . In mid-2021, the latest addition will be made, which now belongs to the Bodega Marañones group from the Sierra de Gredos.