Antídoto Ribera del Duero '22

Located in the eastern part of the Castilla y León region, in northern Spain, Ribera del Duero is among the most extreme continental climates in the country, which makes grapegrowing a considerable challenge. In the remote eastern area of the region, in the province of Soria, is where you’ll find some of the region’s greatest terroirs and oldest vines. Here, the French winemaker Bertrand Sourdais, along with David Hernando, who is from the area, founded Bodegas Antídoto, the name a reference to the Spanish word for “antidote.” They focus on vineyards that are more than 50 years old and that have ungrafted vines—the soils are sandy enough to have prevented the spread of phylloxera in the area for over a century—using organic and some biodynamic practices as well to make wines are an “antidote” to the more commercial style that has dominated Ribera del Duero.

Bertrand thinks of wines from the Soria subzone as balancing Rioja’s fragrance and finesse with Ribera del Duero’s traditional power and depth. For this wine, made from Tinto Fino (the local name for Tempranillo), the grapes were manually harvested from various plots of ungrafted vines, ranging from 30 to 100 years in age. The grapes macerated for six days and were then pressed into French oak for spontaneous fermentation and maturation. The wine was aged for nine months  long and gentle to minimize the extraction of tannins. The wine was aged in large French oak barrels for nine months in 600-liter French oak (a small portion is new). It is bottled unfined and unfiltered.

Intense and complex aromas and flavors of blackberry jam, cherry, violets, cocoa, and more. The palate has extract, with medium tannins that are well integrated into a core of fruit. A hedonistic wine that works incredibly well with rack of lamb.