2016 Dominio Aguila, Ribera del Duero, Penas Aladas Gran Reserva

Wine Advocate

The youth freshness balance and harmony of the 2016 Peñas Aladas Gran Reserva is gobsmacking. The wine is a little shy insinuating reticent and a little closed and it feels younger than it is. It comes from a collection of small plots of some of the oldest vines in the village of La Aguilera in the lieu-dit or "paraje" that names the wine in a small valley surrounded by pine holm and juniper trees where there is a cold draft of air and the temperature is lower than in the rest of the village. The soils are sandy and intermixed with clay on a marl mother rock. The plants are mostly Tempranillo but as they are very old vines there's always a field blend of other varieties?Albillo Mayor Monastrell Garnacha Bobal and Cariñena?all fermented together with full clusters that were foot trodden in concrete vats and indigenous yeasts. Malolactic was in barrel and lasted for 11 months while the élevage was extended to a total of 55 months (almost five years!). After all this time in barrels the wine is not oaky at all; it's floral and perfumed elegant nuanced and layered. The texture is silky and it's medium-bodied with moderate ripeness 14 alcohol and very good freshness denoted by a pH of 3.41. It has fine tannins that make it nicely textured and fine-boned with subtle minerality. This should be veeeeeery long lived as it has the stuffing all the ingredients and the balance between them to make old bones. Amazing juice. 3591 bottles and 51 magnums were filled in April 2021. At Dominio del Águila they are building an extension to their winery in the outskirts of La Aguilera the hamlet of Aranda de Duero where they have an impressive collection of old head-pruned vineyards?35 hectares all certified organic (like all their wines) vines averaging 100 years of age to produce their current 50000 bottles with the idea to eventually reach 80000 bottles. There is a new-single vineyard "clarete" rosé from Peñas Aladas in 2020 an ideal vintage that follows the style of the cool 2016 and they don't stop experimenting and searching for new ways.