Guímaro Finca Capeliños 2018

The 2018 Finca Capeliños shows 13% alcohol on the label, lower than before. It's a more elegant expression of the vineyard. They have been harvesting earlier to achieve that, and macerations have also been reduced, the wine is turning more elegant and harmonious. I think, in 2018, the Capeliños is moving more in the direction of the Pombeiras, toward more finesse. This has a lighter color and integrated oak that is still a little more noticeable in the background compared with the Pombeiras, as this is aged in barrique and Pombeiras in 500-liter barrels. It's elegant and perfumed, with a medium-bodied palate and great balance. It has the elegant rusticity of the best wines from Ribeira Sacra; it's more powerful and serious than the Pombeiras and also a little more backward, from a very fresh vintage, in line with 2014, one of the best ever. It's 70% Mencía and 30% other varieties found in the field blend, fermented with 40% full clusters and the rest uncrushed, and it matured in used 225-liter oak barrels for one year. This should be very long-lived, perhaps longer than the Pombeiras; this is more Rhône and Pombeiras more Burgundy. Only 800 bottles were filled in March 2020.