Aquilon Garnacha - Alto Moncayo

1. Stephen Tanzer

   30 jul. 2021

   -

   Stephen Tanzer

   (Comments on 2007): Inky purple. Powerful, mineral-driven aromas of cherry, blueberry, violet oil, licorice and minerals, with a strong overlay of Asian spices. Large-scaled yet elegant, offering sweet dark berry flavors and exotic notes of candied flowers and fruitcake. The mineral element drives the finish, which is broad, sweet and focused. Offers an uncanny blend of power and finesse.

2. Wine Spectator

   30 jul. 2021

   90

   Wine Spectator

   This aromatic red is rich, ripe and racy, with expressive flavors of raspberry, boysenberry, macerated strawberry and toasty vanilla. Thick in texture, with soft, well-integrated tannins and slightly balsamic acidity. Bold, a touch sweet and balanced for pleasure.

3. Parker

   30 jul. 2021

   91

   Parker

   The 2008 Aquilon, from a relatively cool and late growing season, starts off with some reductive aromas.. This vintage feels quite different to the others, and is one of the leanest years with only 2,280 bottles produced. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with higher acidity and freshness, but the fruit seems to be drying out a little, so I'd opt for drinking this on the earlier side.
   
   Alto Moncayo, the winery created in 2002 by Jorge Ordo�ez, Bodegas Borsao, Australian winemaker Chris Ringland and other partners to create the most ambitious wines from Arag�n, needs no introduction, as their labels Aquil�n and Alto Moncayo are well known by our readers. They showed up with bottles from Aquil�n from 2008 to 2012 included, so I tasted the five vintages, which was great comparison, and also an opportunity to see the pace at which the wine ages. The wine is pure Garnacha from vines planted between 1920 and 1950 on poor soils with clay, iron and red slate. The yields are low and ripeness high, resulting in wines that regularly hit the scales at a whopping 16% alcohol. The grapes are harvested in 18-kilo boxes and sorted, crushed and fermented in small 4,000-5,000 kilo vats with neutral yeasts. The wine is the aged for 24 months in new oak barrels (20% American, the rest French, all of them new in all vintages). Aquil�n is really a barrel selection, so Aquil�n and Alto Moncayo are basically produced in the same way. What I found was that the character of the vintage was clear in the wines and they have different personalities, but the quality level is quite homogeneous.
   Alto Moncayo is not shy either, sourced from equally old Garnacha and fermented in the same way as Aquil�n is aged for a slightly shorter time, around two years and the percentage of American oak is higher, reaching 40% which is both experimental (blind tasting) and because Ringland wants that character in the wine. These are clearly the most ambitious wines produced in Campo de Borja and in the whole of Arag�n. Ripe, massive, concentrated, well-oaked and hedonistic Garnacha wines.
   I had the chance to taste the wines with Chris Ringland, who fell in love when visiting the mountain Garnacha vines from Campo de Borja in the early years of this century and that's how the story started...

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