Wine Advisor
Aalto, Ribera del Duero 2008
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Jay S Miller
A glass-coating opaque purple color, it is already displaying a complex aromatic array of sandalwood, smoke, espresso, lavender, Asian spices, and assorted blue and black fruits. Smooth-textured, succulent, and structured, it will evolve for 2-3 years and offer a drinking window extending from 2013 to 2028+. In the scheme of things, it offers great value in top-flight Ribera del Duero. Bodegas y Vinedos Aalto is a partnership between legendary vigneron Mariano Garcia and Javier Zaccagnini, former President of the governing body of the Ribera del Duero DO. Aalto is sourced from 7 different villages on a variety of soils with vineyard age ranging from 40-100 years and was aged for 24 months in French and American oak. Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, Charlotte, NC; Tel. (704) 358-1565
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
Tasted at Justerini & Brooks Spanish tasting. The 2008 Aalto has a well-defined bouquet with black cherries, cassis, overripe oranges and just a touch of warm alcohol. The palate is medium-bodied with a sweet core of sappy black fruits buffed up by a lot of toasty new oak that makes it silky in the mouth, but missing some freshness on the finish. Tasted September 2011.
About the Producer
The AALTO project was founded in February 1999, in the prestigious winemaking region of Ribera del Duero (Spain). The foundational aim of Mariano Garcia and Javier Zaccagnini in AALTO was to make a wine that shows a different personality, of high quality and being a faithful reflection of distinct locations, blending them at the end of the aging process to obtain balance and complexity. A few years later, in 2006, Masaveu and Nozaleda families joined AALTO, both owners of wineries in other wine regions of Spain, providing experience and stability to the project, which meant the consolidation of the winery to this day. The architecture of the winery is perfectly integrated into the environment, in a typical Ribera del Duero plateau, with a lineal and harmonic design without ostentation, and minimalistic details, elegant and comfortable.
