17 By Pinea 2019 Tempranillo

Spain's Ribera del Duero is home to the country's most iconic wine estate - the historic Vega Sicilia - but also one of the country's most exciting producers of the current wine era. 

The stretch of the Duero river between Valladolid and Peñafiel is a great area for wine growing in Spain, and especially the "national grape of Spain," Tempranillo. It is here, across the Duero from "Vega Sicilia" that the Mexican-born founders of Bodegas Pinea established their winery. They acquired high altitude plots with old vines near Burgos, in the heart of the DO Ribera del Duero, and hired the acclaimed winemaker Isaac Fernández - who learned his trade from his uncle, Mariano García, the legendary winemaker of Vega Sicilia, and is now considered one of Spain's brightest winemaking stars.

The "17" on the label of the 'Pinea 17' is a tribute to an important year in the evolution of Bodegas Pinea: 2017 marked the winery's first commercial releases and was also the year Spanish golfer Sergio García won his first "major" tournament (The Masters), so Fernández and company created "17" to commemorate a "year of triumphs". 

The nose is clean and developing, showing medium intensity aromas of cedar, vanilla, chocolate, dark plums, dark cherries, licorice and anise. The wine is dry in the mouth with a medium acidity. It has medium supple tannins and a high alcohol. It has a medium body and flavors of cedar, vanilla, dark plums, dark cherries and licorice.