Mas de la Rosa 2013Vall Llach - 75 cl.

The grand vin here is the 2013 Vall Llach Mas de la Rosa, which is from an ancient vineyard with a 70% slope on llicorella slate planted with Cariñena. They used 5% stems for the fermentation in 225- and 500-liter barriques and stainless steel with indigenous yeasts after a three-day cold soak. It underwent 17-19 days of fermentation with daily punching down of the cap and a post fermentative maceration of 12 days. The wine matured in new 225- and 300-liter French oak barrels for some 16 months. There's obviously superb fruit in here, but the extreme ripeness of the fruit and the creamy oak kind of hide the character of the wine. Having said that, I have noticed much better freshness in all these 2013s, and even some floral aromas fighting to come to the surface. This is a huge, bodybuilder of a wine in an XXL style. I have the feeling the fruit is capable of producing something a lot more elegant. This is very good in its style. 1,660 bottles were produced and filled in May 2015.