Description
Malcaracter, “Limited” Tempranillo
Suppose you had a time machine and used it to plop a mid-aughts sommelier at a 2021 restaurant table, Spanish wine list in hand. They’d be lost, because Spain has undergone a seismic shift over the last decade or so. There are a host of previously under-appreciated regions and grape varieties to master, and even in the best-known, most classic regions, a re-examination of the state of play is warranted. The wines of Ribera del Duero are a great example:
Not so long ago, the lusciously textured Tempranillos of this region were the critical and commercial darlings, many of them styled (and priced) like California “cult” bottlings. The intense concentration and new oak polish of these wines was/is not without its appeal, but the partners behind Malcaracter have a different style in mind—one that emphasizes elegance and freshness over extract and oak. They want the impeccable raw material to shine through, so they dial back the intensity in favor of terroir transparency. Today’s 2018 is 100% Tempranillo from some magnificent high-altitude vineyards, and for anyone accustomed to the inky Ribera del Duero behemoths of yore, it’s a revelation. Come for the dark, brambly fruit that made the region famous, stay for the energy and tension its “new-generation” interpreters have discovered!
Ribera del Duero may never have equaled the iconic status of its northern neighbor, Rioja, but in the late ’90s and early 2000s, this was a go-to region in the sommelier tool kit, easily meeting the era’s demand for high-octane reds. Ribera was, and is, a region for the ambitious. Given that Spain’s most renowned winery, Vega Sicilia, calls it home, it’s been the place where Tempranillo-loving outsiders and international investors could launch an assault on the historic and secretive grandees in Rioja. Ambition still rules in Ribero, but the inspiration isn’t perhaps as Bordeaux-centric as it once was. As Malcaracter illustrates, there’s a small band of producers dedicated to proving that Ribera del Duero can be a wine of grace as well as power: “Burgundian,” if you will.
They’re onto something: the best Ribera del Duero bottlings, Vega Sicilia Unico among them, have always seemed to carry a certain freshness alongside their brambly brawn. The best vineyards here sit at high elevation, well over 2,500 feet, and experience “continental” climate. Temperatures can reach 100 degrees during the day and plunge below 40 at night. Segmented layers of limestone and chalk soils bring a fine-grained tannic structure. Even when producers were blending their Tempranillo with Cabernet and aging it in 100% new oak, the brilliance of the raw materials shone through.
Allowing the raw materials to shine through is what the Malcaracter project is all about. It was begun by Cecilia Puebla and Nacho Gutierrez, two exporters of tiny Spanish producers. Despite its potential, few Ribera del Duero winemakers have shifted away from the powerhouse style of a decade ago, so Cecilia and Nacho couldn’t find Ribera wine they were willing to export. So they decided to make their own, from nearly 100-year-old head-trained vines in the town of Gumiel de Mercado. They fermented “Limited” in concrete vats using only ambient yeasts, then aged it for 12 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels.
In the glass, Malcaracter’s “Limited” 2018 is a deep, opaque purple. The nose oozes with generous, almost-jammy blackberry, blueberry, plum candy, crushed violet, anise, and a hint of pipe tobacco. There’s so much lift and purple-fruited perfume here, it makes you wonder why people put something like this in new oak at all. It’s warming and inviting on the palate, and has a fantastic kick of limestone-y tension, a sort of raspberry-inflected acidity providing verve and length. Deep, dark fruits continue, leaning into the blackberry and blueberry tones, alongside a hint of black pepper, before being washed away by a present but delicate backbone of sandy tannins. This is absolutely killer stuff, an obvious next move for any lover of Rhône wines, North or South, or the sort of cool-climate California reds we drink so much of here. This is perfect for any hearty meat dish, but will especially sing with Morcilla, Spanish blood sausage. Serve slightly chilled (55-60 degrees) in Bordeaux glasses, and ponder along with us just how bright Spain’s future is!
