Outstanding Tempranillo from its spiritual home

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  • 93 pts Wine Enthusiast
    93 pts WE
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2018 Bodegas Patrocinio Tempranillo Reserva Terroir de Zinio Rioja 750 ml

Retail: $45

$25 44% off per bottle

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  • Temperature controlled shipping options
  • Get credited back if a wine fails to impress

Spain's Crown Jewel

Tempranillo is far and away the most important grape in Spain—and the sub-zone of Rioja Alta has a strong claim to being its spiritual home.

Bound by the Ebro River and Cantabrian mountains to the north, Rioja Alta is the highest-altitude section of Rioja—the crown jewel of Spanish appellations. Here, Tempranillo is its most perfumed, vibrant, and ageworthy, as the cooler temperatures allow for a long hang-time and profound complexity.

The Terroir de Zinio Reserva is one of the highlights of the outstanding 2018 vintage. Made under the direction of Master of Wine Norrel Robertson, showing off Zinio’s outstanding terroir, it earned an impressive 93 points from Wine Enthusiast. 

This Reserva is drawn solely from the highest-altitude sections of Zinio’s outstanding holdings: vineyards that start at over 1,600 feet of elevation and climb even higher from there. These are old vines—bush-trained and planted over 70 years ago—that produce tiny berries and stunning wine.

The vineyard’s exceptional mix of alluvial and clay-dominant soils build in complexity, while the altitude creates a resounding freshness in the wine, allowing Robertson to hold off picking while the grapes develop extra power and richness.

Once they’re picked, the grapes are treated to two separate sortings—once in the vineyard and once in the winery—before a cold-soak allows extra richness and fruit to develop. A maceration of over three weeks builds structure and therefore ageworthiness, while 18 months in barrel softens tannins and renders the wine supple.

The resulting wine—full of red cherries, dark berries, and a hint of leather and vanilla—blew us away on our last trip to Spain. We had to bring it in for the club.