Scala Dei Masdeu 2013

I found the 2013 Masdeu unusually heady and with a ripeness I didn't expect from 2013. It is pure Garnacha from their highest altitude vineyard at 800 meters, an east-facing, terraced plot that names the wine and was planted in 1945 on limestone-rich, very white soils. The grapes were harvested in the third week of October and the full clusters were used to ferment the grapes with indigenous yeasts in cement tanks. Fifty-five percent of the volume was kept in cement, 25% in a 1,400-liter oak foudre, and the remaining 15% in one 600-liter oak barrel and in a clay amphora that was buried in sand inside a wooden box for 16 months. There are some intriguing smoky notes, echoes of malted cereals like I've seen in some ripe and heady Garnachas from elsewhere, and lots of decayed violets that make it feel a little decadent. The palate is sharp, a little too austere, showing abundant chalky tannins and a dry finish. This feels riper than the last time I tasted it. It developed more earthy notes with time. Very good, but a little disconcerting. 4,765 bottles and 300 magnums were filled in July 2015.

This starts full of chocolate and orange peel scent, but then the tannin slowly begins to assert itself. The fruit stays firm, the tannin won't budge either, and the perfume, if anything, unbuttons a bit. They'll keep on jostling for a few years yet. Drinking Window 2018-2025.

A big, darkly-fruited wine with very ripe plums and masses of extract. Quite tough through the finish, but turns racy and juicy. Lead pencil undertones. Needs slow-cooked wintry fare at the very least. May struggle to come around.