Guía Peñin (97/100)
James Suckling (97/100)
It starts off closed, but after 30 to 40 minutes in your glass, it starts to bloom, with purple flowers, lavender, minerals, blue fruit, wet stones and a touch of iodine. This is profound and aromatic at the same time. Super juicy and compact, with tense and bright tannins. Still austere in style, as with the rest of Artuke's wines, but there are more polished tannins in his grand cru wines, namely La Condenada and El Escolladero. Tempranillo, around 20% graciano and the rest is garnacha and some palomino fino. Planted in 1920 at 550 meters in Baños de Ebro. Drink or hold.
R. Parker (96+/100)
I also tasted the 2022 La Condenada from the 0.75-hectare plot of old vines in the village of Baños de Ebro. Like the rest of reds, it fermented with indigenous yeasts and matured in 600-liter oak foudres for one year. It has 14% alcohol and kept a pH of 3.38. Like the rest of the 2022s, it suffered in the comparison with the (otherworldly) 2021; the tannins are not as refined and the fruit is slightly riper, darker and more primary. It has notes of licorice and earth and a dry, chalky sensation in the palate. 2,000 bottles were filled