Garmon 2014 - release offer of the latest project by Mariano, Eduardo and Alberto Garcia
"One of the most anticipated projects in Ribera" according to Louis Gutierrez of Wine Advocate fame.
Good afternoon good people, and I hope you are all having a great weekend. It is raining here in Richmond but, we have a bottle of Garmon 2014 open and so it all looks much sunnier.
Garmon is the latest project by Mariano, Eduardo and Alberto Garcia (they also own Mauro and San Roman, and Mariano is Technical Director of Aalto). The idea is to make more traditional, small production winery (capacity is set at 6,000 - 7,000 cases per year using the fruit from the old plots (over 40 y old) with native clones in some of the best villages in upper parts of Ribera del Duero (Baños, Tubilla, La Aguilera and Moradillo). These villages are located in the higher, cooler areas of Upper Duero, with a longer ripening and later harvesting cycle, producing elegant and juicy wines with great freshness and elegance. The slow maturation is contributing to very fine tannins with intense, complex aromas producing classic, refined, long lasting wines.
On to the wine:
Garmon Continental 2014
2014 is the first vintage produced under the Garmon label (100% Tempranillo) matured for 16 months in French Oak. The production is only 36,600 bottles and 500 magnums. Those of you who read these reports of mine already know that the 2014 was an exceptional vintage in Ribera and Garmon shows it in abundance. Initial nose is still dominated by intense vanilla oak, but with great underlining small black fruit and spices. There is almost Cote Rotie style, grilled meat and Mediterranean spice background to it at this stage but, with great balance and complexity at finish. 24 hours later, and left open in the shop, the wood has integrated in the juice and whilst the smokiness has all but gone, the spicy, ripe fruit has taken over and the wine is showing its full potential. Not for the impatient and weak hearted, this will need some 5 y to gel together and will drink for another 20 at least. Kind of a mixture of Aalto ripeness and intensity with Vega Sicilia wood underneath.
This is the first vintage and, if you ask me, has all the characteristics of a future star. It might not get a cult status, but it is certainly a bargain at this price level. And who knows, the way the wines form Ribera are gaining recognition around the world, this might prove to be a reasonable investment. So far it has had some great reviews in Spain, and a decent review form Decanter magazine, as well as a little write up in Wine advocate - see below:
It's quite smoky (smoked bacon) with plenty of spices, generously oaked in general. The sweet spices are combined with sweet fruit, a sensation perceived mainly in the palate. I'd say it's quite typical of the Mariano García style, keeping the Tempranillo character of the grapes in the cooler zone of the appellation, perfumed and with some oak tannins to be resolved by some more time in bottle. This was produced in the Aalto winery, while they build their own space in the village of Olivares de Duero. 36,800 bottles and 500 magnums were filled in June 2016.
Zoran Ristanovic
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