Wine Advisor
Aalto, Ribera del Duero 2011
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Luis Gutiérrez
2011 Aalto is the cuvee produced with Tempranillo grapes from nine villages across Ribera del Duero, some in Valladolid and the majority in Burgos. It was fermented with indigenous yeasts and was aged for 20 months in 50% new barrels and 50% used ones. Most of the oak is from France, but 15% of the barriques are made of American wood. The wine shows the house style of ripe, exuberant and well-oaked reds, with some lactic hints and surprisingly, fresh red fruit intermixed with the aromas of riper, darker fruit and plenty of spicy oak, developing pine needle-like notes with time in the glass, and later, ripe peach. The palate is medium to full-bodied with abundant, fine-grained, slightly dusty tannins. It shows good balance and moderate acidity ending with some lactic flavors. 230,000 bottles produced. I tasted from half bottles (that is not ideal), which are not sold, only used for tastings. The wine evolves quickly once the bottle is opened, so I think this ripe vintage should be drunk in the shorter term. Drink now-2017. 2011 saw a warm end of the summer and an early harvest (it started on September) in Ribera del Duero. In Aalto they finished harvesting very healthy grapes on October 11. 2012 was extremely dry, but not as warm during the last months of the cycle. I tasted these 2011s from half-bottles that are far from ideal, especially since the half-bottles are not sold, and are used uniquely for tasting. Importer: Eric Solomon Selections, European Cellars, Charlotte, NC; Tel. (704) 358-1565, www.europeancellars.com
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.
