Bodegas y Vihedos Tinedo, Gala No.1, VDT Castilla, Spain, 2018

The charming family owned estate, Tinedo, has been making wine in the heart of La Mancha since 1742.

Manuel, Esperanza and Amparo Álvarez-Arenas, have lead the pursuit of terroir-expressive wines since 2002. They have also reinforced social and agricultural sustainability in this area. The funky labels Ja! and Max! are the creative talents of Manuel, winemaker come amateur photographer. These wines are totally organic, raw, vibrant interpretations of La Mancha wines with no oak treatment to mask a pure expression of the fruit.

WINEMAKING 

Part of the wine is fermented in 10,000L cement tanks and part in double lined 20,000L stainless steel tanks. The extraction process is always gentle and manual, using destemmed uncrushed grapes, with low fermentation temperatures and maceration which varies depending on the type of grape. The malolactic fermentation takes place in cement tanks and partly in barrels according to the type of wine. The aim of the ageing process is to stabilise the wine and to enhance its natural clarification without filtration. For this, cement tanks and barrels in which the lees “fall” more easily are used. Wine has been aged over 2 winters before bottling, having thus stabilised it in a natural way.

TASTING NOTES

Attractive purple cherry tone, clean, with hues of blue and a good intensity. Expressive and well defined tertiary aromas (tobacco, cinnamon, chocolate), fruity (glace strawberries, dry apricots and plums) and spicy (liquorice). A well balanced palate, with a good concentration, fresh tannins, red fruits (strawberries, cherries) and a tertiary finish (tobacco, liquorice).

FOOD PAIRING

Cheese, pasta and rice dishes, meat stews and baked fish.