2020 Cune - Real de Asua Reserva
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The 2020 Real de Asúa is a wine that changed in 2018 when it started being produced exclusively with Tempranillo from the lieu-dit Carromaza in the village of Villalba. 2020 was warm, and the grapes were picked two weeks earlier than in 2019. The grapes are harvested in 300-kilo palot containers and fermented after a cold soak in small oak vats with indigenous yeasts. Malolactic was in French oak barrels, and the aging was in new and second-use barriques and lasted 12 months. This feels quite classical, balanced and serious. The nose is subtle, elegant and quite impressive, with notes of herbs and a touch of mustard; it's fresh and well above the expectation from a year like 2020. Today, I prefer this to the 2021. 12,453 bottles were filled in March 2023.
Critic scores
Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate
Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous
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The 2020 Real de Asua is 100% Tempranillo sourced from the Carromaza plot in Villalba, Rioja Alta. Aged for 12 months in French oak barrels, this purple wine exhibits reductive aromas typical of Tempranillo, with a distinct blood-like quality. It also offers notes of violets, raspberries and strawberries layered over an unusual meaty undertone. Dry and juicy on the palate, its unweighted structure and intense flavors contribute to a vibrant, age-worthy red wine with a nod to Bordeaux. What sets it apart is the contrast between its concentration and finesse, along with the interplay of reductive notes and nuanced flavors.
A more generous vintage than 2019, at around 40hl/h yield from this 2.5ha vineyard, putting an emphasis on peony and rose flowers. This has liqourice and crushed raspberries, plenty of weight through the mid palate without being heavy, lovely juice. 80% new oak, large size oak casks for fermentation. 80% new oak, wild yeast ferment. 3.6ph, 95IPT.
Such purity and clarity to the wine with blackberries, blackcurrants, violets and orange peel. Medium to full body and fine tannins. Polished, bright, vivid and agile. Powdery tannins with wonderful length and finesse. Savory, too. Give it three to four years of bottle age.