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WINES OF SPAIN
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Carmen Gran Reserva
Carmen, named after and dedicated to Benjamin’s mother, is a special wine created to unite the
longstanding family tradition of winemaking with modernity. This wine is different from all other Contador
wines in style and unrivaled elegance. Carmen is composed of 82 percent Tempranillo, 10 percent
Garnacha, 4 percent Graciano and 4 percent Mazuelo sourced from six different plots yielding less than 1
lb per vine in from Calcer Atxalde, Valseca, Ariaisabel, Pangua, El Sauco and La Nava (2,000 feet) within
San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Briones and Labastida. The wine is free-run juice fermented in conditioned
2,000- and 1,000-L barrels and then aged twenty-four months in new French oak and then aged for
thirty-six months in bottle before release. The wine is fined, but not filtered. Stunning aromatics of sage,
dried cranberry, cedar and vanilla unfold as the wine opens in your glass. The silky red fruit gives was to
flavors of toffee and baked cherry pie with a Graham cracker crust on the palate, finishing with integrated
silty tannin.
2009:
96 WA |
2008:
95 WA |
2007:
93 WS, 93 V
La Vina de Andres Romeo
La Vina de Andres, is a single-vineyard wine named after Benjamin’s father and is dedicated to his family’s
roots in the wine industry. This wine is composed of 100 percent Tempranillo coming from the alluvial and
Calcareous soil of the “La Liende,” at 1,300 feet and vines yielding less than 1 kg (2.2 lbs per vine). The 8.6
acre estate has poor soil, which is clayey with a calcareous sub soil, drained by the numerous rounded
pebbles deposited by the Ebro. The grapes undergo a three day cold maceration in 10,000 liter oak
barrels, then only the free-run juice goes into new French oak barrels from twelve different cooperages
ranging in size from 500 L, 300 L and traditional 225 L, for eighteen months. The wine is not fined or
filtered. This is a wine of power and structure, made for posterity. The nose shows mineral notes of wet
stone and gravel as well as cedar and vanilla. On the palate, notes of sweet tobacco and cured meat,
leather and dried fruit are supported by structured tannins.
2012:
93 WA |
2011:
93 WA |
2007:
95 WA, 93 WS |
2006:
96 WA, 94 WE |
2005:
98 WA, 93 WS