2018-C Bodegas Breca 'Brega' Garnacha, Calatayud DO, Spain (750ml)
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A Quarterly Red Cellar Trio Wine Club Selection
Deep, dark burgundy. Concentrated aromas of dark bramble fruit and exotic spices. The palate is big, bold and fruit forward. Ripe and bursting with blackberry, black plum and cassis, voluptuous in the mouth with baking spices and a touch of sandalwood on the long, juicy finish. Decadent, powerful and flamboyant—enjoy! Cellaring Recommendation: 5 – 7 years.
Located in the sleepy town of Munébrega, Bodegas Breca was founded by Jorge Ordóñez in 2010 with the mission of producing the finest Garnacha in Aragón. Garnacha de Aragón, the clone used to produce the wines of Bodegas Breca, is the most ancient and genetically untouched clone of Garnacha (Grenache) in the world. Garnacha was first cultivated in this northeastern corner of Spain, and transplanted across the Mediterranean by the medieval Kingdom of Aragón, which had territories across the Mediterranean. Jorge Ordóñez pioneered the introduction of Garnacha into the United States in the 1990s, when Garnacha was the most widely planted grape in Spain. At the time, however, all of the Spanish red wines available in the American market were Tempranillo dominant. Jorge recognized the quality of the old vine plantings of Garnacha and the wines they produced, and brought these sensational wines to wine lovers in the United States.
100% Garnacha, sourced from two mountain plots outside Munébrega, Zaragoza, in the southern part of the Calatayud DO. These ancient, dry-farmed vines were planted between 1900 and 1918. The fruit was hand-harvested and stored in small baskets. The bunches were destemmed and the whole berries were transferred to stainless-steel temperature-controlled vats. Fermentation was initiated with a pied de cuve; a process where a small amount of grapes are picked several days before harvest, and allowed to start fermenting. This builds the native yeast population on the grapes. This culture is then added to the rest of the harvested grapes. Ater an eight-day maceration, the wine was pressed sweet, in a vertical basket press over the course of twelve hours. The wine finished primary and underwent malolactic fermentation in puncheons and demi-muids. It was then aged for 22 months in oak barrels, 50% new, 50% second and third use.