Guímaro Finca Capeliños 2017

There are no single vineyards bottled in 2016, as the grapes were destroyed by hail, so I tasted the 2017 Finca Capeliños. They used 65% full clusters in 2017 and a shorter maceration than in other years, perhaps because the very short growing season (the grapes were harvested earlier than ever) delivered less ripe seeds and stems, so that a longer maceration would have extracted harsher tannins. The dry and warm year was saved by some rain just before the harvest that allowed the grapes to develop flavors and aromas, because they were not present before. The result is very impressive. This is always the most elegant from the single-plot bottlings; the extremely old vineyard seems to provide an extra degree of nuance, and the grapes are nicely balanced, maintaining the acidity to provide the wine with freshness. 2017 is a warm year with powerful wines, a little in the style of 2015, but I see a tad more elegance and better balance here. There is power and concentration, with ripeness that is not noticed (there's 14% alcohol). It has plenty of fine-grained tannins that would benefit from some time in bottle. It should develop effortlessly for a decade. A great Capeliños. 800 bottles produced.