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WINES OF SPAIN
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Predicador Tinto
Predicador, or “Preacher,” named after Clint Eastwood’s everyman character in the 1985 film Pale Rider, is
composed of 96 percent Tempranillo, 2 percent Garnacha, 1 percent Graciano and 1 percent Mazuelo. The
grapes are sourced from 15 different plots within San Vicente and Briones in Rioja Alta which on average
yield less than 2 kg per vine: La Canoca, La Liende, Sacramento, El Llano, Raicilla, San Pablo, Burdarán,
Sauco, El Bombon, El Espino, Guiasol, Briones, San Francisco, El Hoyo and Vitarán. The wine is fermented
in oak and stainless steel with a two-day cold maceration and aged for sixteen months in new French
oak. The wine was filtered but not fined. This vintage some La Cueva del Contador, Contador and La Vina
de Andres were added for concentration and balance. The aromatics open up with crushed red cherries,
balsamic notes and the sweet baking spices of cinnamon and clove. The fruity and spicy characteristics
found in the nose follow through on the palate, along with dried cranberry, black cherry and elegant fine-
grained tannin supporting the tart red fruit and adding to its length and depth.
2013:
91 WA |
2011:
92 WA |
2010:
92 WA, 90 WA |
2008:
92 WA, 90 WA |
2006:
90 WA |
2005:
93 WA,
90 WS, 91 V
La Cueva de Contador
Named after the centuries-old caves or “cuevas” carved out of the hillside below the castle of San Vicente
in Sonsierra north of the Ebro, this wine is composed of 91 percent Tempranillo and 9 percent Garnacha.
The fruit is sourced from eight different plots that yield about 2.6 lbs per vine: El Bombon, El Sauco, El
Bardallo, San Pablo, La Liende, Ariaisabel, La Rad and La Raicilla. Fermentation began after a three-day
cold maceration and the wine is aged for nineteen months in 100 percent new French oak and bottled
without fining or filtration. Both red and black fruit are pronounced in the nose, but there are also mineral
and herbal notes of gravel and lavender. The palate offers flavors of blackberry coulis, Damson plums,
Rosemary and well-integrated tannins; this wine is well balanced and youthful with a long powerful finish.
2012:
95 WA |
2011:
94 WA |
2010:
95 WA |
2009:
95 WA |
2008:
94 WA |
2007:
93 WA |
2006:
94+
WA, 93 WE |
2005:
97 WA
Contador
In 1999, Contador was created. The name pays homage to the those “counters” who scrupulously kept
records of the wines of Benjamin’s father’s generation that were moved in and out of the caves for aging
and bottling. The wine is comprised of 94 percent Tempranillo, 3 percent Graciano and 3 percent Mazuelo
from the calcareous clay-based vineyards located in the municipalities of San Vicente de la Sonsierra,
Briones, Ábalos and Labastida in Rioja Alta. Contador is sourced from nine different plots averaging a
yield of 2.6 lbs per vine: El Hoyo Barbera, El Bardallo, El Bosque, Hoyo Ábalos, San Juan, Corrales, El
Bombón, Murmurón and El Sauco. The wine is free-run juice, cold-macerated for three days on the skins
and then barrel-fermented in a mix of large 2,000L, 900 L 500 L barrels and then aged eighteen months
in 100 percent New French oak. Unfined and unfiltered. The 2011 vintage created a powerful wine with
aromatic herbs (thyme, rosemary, lavender and fennel) in the nose and full-bodied concentrated black
fruit on the palate. Contador illustrates Benjamin’s philosophy of “Lento y Fuerte”: measured and forceful.
2012:
97 WA |
2011:
96 WA, 94 V |
2010:
96 WA |
2009:
95 WA |
2008:
98 WA |
2007:
98 WA |
2005:
100 WA |
2004:
100 WA