Eulogio Pomares Castineiro Espadeiro 2018 750ml
"The second vintage of the surprisingly ethereal and floral red, the 2018 Castiñeiro Espadeiro, is even better than the already impressive debut. Until I tasted this wine, I always thought Espadeiro was a rustic grape, but here the word to describe it is clearly elegance. It's light and translucent, a little like a Poulsard from the Jura, and the nose is an explosion of wild flowers and herbs. The palate is vibrant, with flavors of acid berries and an almost effervescent minerality, like a mini electric shock from licking a granite rock. It's long, precise, symmetric and sharp, defined and focused. It comes from a small plot planted 40 years ago, and it fermented in open-top 500-liter oak barrels and matured in used 225-liter French barriques for six months. Tasted double blind, it showed a little volatile and more extreme than I had noticed before, a little wild, like a lambic beer. It has very low alcohol and a sharp palate that will surely surprise most people. This comes from a plot planted with a strain of Espadeiro that was cultivated by some monks in Barro, in the Pazo da Crega, that was taken by the owner of the Castiñeiro vineyard. This is the only explanation for the unique character of this wine, a strain with larger bunches, and the wine is more elegant, floral and less spicy than the majority of Espadeiro. This is a characterful and different wine, not for all palates. I personally love it. Only 1,333 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2019. 96 Points." Robert Parker Wine Advocate