MundoVino Portfolio Book

Carmen Gran Reserva Carmen, named after and dedicated to Benjamin’s mother, is a special wine created to unite the longstanding family tradition of winemaking with modernity. This wine is different from all other Contador wines in style and unrivaled elegance. Carmen is composed of 82 percent Tempranillo, 10 percent Garnacha, 4 percent Graciano and 4 percent Mazuelo sourced from six different plots yielding less than 1 lb per vine in from Calcer Atxalde, Valseca, Ariaisabel, Pangua, El Sauco and La Nava (2,000 feet) within San Vicente de la Sonsierra, Briones and Labastida. The wine is free-run juice fermented in conditioned 2,000- and 1,000-L barrels and then aged twenty-four months in new French oak and then aged for thirty- six months in bottle before release. The wine is fined, but not filtered. Stunning aromatics of sage, dried cranberry, cedar and vanilla unfold as the wine opens in your glass. The silky red fruit gives was to flavors of toffee and baked cherry pie with a Graham cracker crust on the palate, finishing with integrated silty tannin. 2009 : 96 WA | 2008 : 95 WA | 2007 : 93 WS, 93 V La Vina de Andres Romeo La Vina de Andres, is a single-vineyard wine named after Benjamin’s father and is dedicated to his family’s roots in the wine industry. This wine is composed of 100 percent Tempranillo coming from the alluvial and Calcareous soil of the “La Liende,” at 1,300 feet and vines yielding less than 1 kg (2.2 lbs per vine). The 8.6 acre estate has poor soil, which is clayey with a calcareous sub soil, drained by the numerous rounded pebbles deposited by the Ebro. The grapes undergo a three day cold maceration in 10,000 liter oak barrels, then only the free-run juice goes into new French oak barrels from twelve different cooperages ranging in size from 500 L, 300 L and traditional 225 L, for eighteen months. The wine is not fined or filtered. This is a wine of power and structure, made for posterity. The nose shows mineral notes of wet stone and gravel as well as cedar and vanilla. On the palate, notes of sweet tobacco and cured meat, leather and dried fruit are supported by structured tannins. 2012 : 93 WA | 2011 : 93 WA | 2007 : 95 WA, 93 WS | 2006 : 96 WA, 94 WE | 2005 : 98 WA, 93 WS Que Bonita Cacareaba The wine’s playful name comes from a combination of an homage to one of Benjamin Romeo’s family names. It translates directly to “rooster” in Spanish, as well as the cocky assurance that tasting this wine will elicit the reaction similar to a raucous cry of a bird, aka, a “cockadoodledoo”—or in Spanish, “cacereaba.” This wine is composed of 50 percent Garnacha Blanca, 35 percent Malvasía, 15 percent Viura sourced from head-trained vines gown in a mix of alluvial and calcareous soil from the municipalities of San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Briones with Rioja Alta. The three different grape varieties, harvested at different dates according to ripeness, come from the following six plots: Leza, Ariasabal, Murmurón, El Sauco, El Bombón y Las and Tasugueras. The bunches are whole-cluster fermented, cold-soaked for over forty-eight hours, and then the free juice runs into 225 L New French oak barrels for fermentation before eight months of lees aging and battonage. The wine is fined, but not filtered. The blend of these three grape varieties create heady aromas of cinnamon and spice, orange marmalade and toasted sesame seeds. What you smell in the nose is similar to what you taste while adding dried pineapple, poached pear and almond biscotti. There is a concentration and weight to this wine as it permeates your palate that demands another sip with food. 5,800 btls. 2013 : 94 WA | 2012 : 93 WA | 2010 : 92 WA

WINES OF SPAIN

79