La Zorra Ituero 2019

The red 2019 Ituero was produced with Rufete grapes from a vineyard planted in 1930 on granite soils at 890 meters in altitude in the village of Cristobal de la Sierra. The full clusters were foot trodden, and the juice finished fermenting without skins and with natural yeasts. It went through malolactic in American oak barrels (which might have given it a faint lactic touch) and matured in second use French barriques for nine months. It has a creamy and spicy profile with toasty notes from the élevage and is ripe without excess, with notes of black fruit. The palate is medium-bodied and has grainy tannins. I found the oak to be a bit intrusive. 1,828 bottles were filled in April 2021.