Dominio Aguila, Ribera del Duero, Canta Perdiz 2016

I was really looking forward to the single-vineyard red 2016 Canta la Perdiz, their rarest and finest bottling. It comes from a one of the oldest plots in the village of La Aguilera found at 890 meters in altitude on sand and limestone soils that give it a special personality and a chalky texture. The full clusters fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete vats, and the wine went through seven months of a slow malolactic fermentation in oak barrels, where it completed an élevage of 31 months. The wine delivers what I was expecting, incredible finesse and elegance while filling your mouth. It is nuanced, perfumed and with a crystalline personality, with light and energy. It has very fine, chalky tannins that give it a velvety texture. It has incredible length. It's a world-class red that should develop for a very long time in bottle but also drink well throughout its life, even as young as now. This is one of the finest wines they have produced at this domaine, among the greatest in Ribera del Duero, fine, crystalline and full of Ribera character, serious but with a hedonist side. 1,789 bottles and 50 magnums were filled in May 2019.

• Drinking Window: 2021 - 2036
• Reviewer Name: Luis Gutierrez
• Review Date: June 2021