Las Pizarrans Fabla #506 2023

Price: $15.99

Sale Price: $12.97

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Producer	Las Pizarrans
Country	Spain
Region	Calatayud
Varietal	Garnacha,  Syrah
Vintage	2023
Sku	70525
Size	750ml

 

The wine region of Calatayud in central Spain produces remarkable Garnacha-based wines, and they can sell for a song. This 80% Garnacha, 20% Syrah blend from bush-trained vines planted on steep slopes is a quintessential expression of Garnacha, with its opulent red fruits, enhanced by a contrasting streak of tense dark fruits and spice from the blended Syrah. This, of course, is the same classic blend well known in the Côtes du Rhône (Garnacha in Spain is the same grape as Grenache in France), but I think the Las Pizarras blend has an elevated fruitfulness that sings a more soprano pitch compared to the alto voice of her Rhone cousins. They say that the grapevine produces its best fruit when the plant has to struggle. Well the vines surely work hard in this continental climate with scorching summers, cold winters, scarce rainfall, and constant winds. In addition the slate, limestone and fractured siltstone landscape offers only a nutrient poor soils for the vines, whose roots go deep to find water and mineral nutrients. But the results are spectacular. A bright and saturated cherry red in the glass, this wine bursts with very intense aromas of ripe red fruit, plums, and figs, accompanied by spicy notes such as black pepper. There is a sense of considerable volume on the palate that shows abundant ripe fruit, such as plum, cherry, and strawberry. The tannins are soft but persistent on the long succulent finish that is both mouth-coating and refreshing. This is a wine for lamb, all kinds of lamb, grilled, roasted or in stews. Fabla, by the way, is a rare language/dialect in Aragon spoken by only about 12,000 people. The fruit for this wine was harvested from a network of fractured and isolated old-vine vineyards spread throughout the region so that the old dispersed vineyards speak their own rare language for us to enjoy. At least that is why I supposed they named the wine Fabla.