Numanthia 2008

Deep dark bright red with light ruby tones. Both intense and complex, there are several layers of aromatics in this lively nose: first some extremely intense notes of red and black fruits (black Sherries & redcurrants), perfectly integrated with sweet spices (fresh white pepper & cardamom), and powerful characters (as fresh truffles & leather). The final nose is fresh with herbaceous notes (mint and eucalyptus) and dried flower & leaf scents as roses, black tea and tobacco.

An intense, robust and nervy wine. Impressive fruit expression, concentrated tannins, leading to a velvety and lively full body mouthfeel. Long and elegant on the finish with an extremely wide range of aromas, like dark fruits, toasted and spicy notes, highlights the complexity and handcraft character of this wine.

The major part of the winter was not very cold (average temperature of the season close to 5oC – 41oF) and quite dry. Nevertheless, February brought almost 40 mm (1.60”) of precipitation that generated good water reserves for the bud burst.

The spring was warm and humid and the bud burst started around the second week of April, a little bit premature for the region and slightly slow and uneven.

Flowering took place by the 10th of June, a month that had quite mild temperatures, average close to 19oC (66oF), and was slightly humid. Important for the outstanding quality of the year, were the following two months. July was quite cold with very low minimal temperatures for the season and very dry, with a slow growth of the canopy. August had 5 days with very high temperatures that balanced the ripeness that were followed by fresh temperatures and very low rainfall.

The harvest started on the 27th of September, a little bit later than usual, with a perfectly uniform and complete ripeness of the grapes coming from very homogeneous vineyards. Finished the 9th of October.