Dominio del Águila
About Dominio del Águila
Founded as recently as 2010, Bodegas Dominio del Águila is forging a new path through its incredible cuvées from the famous Ribera del Duero region in Spain. Famed, quite rightly, for its staggeringly rich, bold and uncompromising wines, this young estate is offering an altogether more elegant, restrained and highly terroir-focused interpretation of the region and its varietals. Judging by both the demand for its wines and the critical acclaim achieved in well under a decade, this is clearly an alternative of which oenophiles are more than welcome.
Situated in the village of La Aguilera, Dominio del Águila is the brainchild of Jorge Mónzon and partner Isabel Rodero. Collectors may be surprised that wine of such quality can be crafted by such a young winemaker from an estate very much in its infancy. It just so happens that Jorge boasts what may be the single most impressive CV of any young winemaker on Earth – his very first full-time viticultural position was at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti! Departing France for his native Spain, he worked at one of the most famous estates in the country, Vega-Sicilia.
Viniculture
It was whilst working at Bodegas Arzuaga-Navarro, however, that the ambitious vigneron came across a number of ancient vineyard parcels whose grapes were being sold to, and used in the prestige cuvées of, other wineries across the region. Seizing his moment, Jorge and Isabel snatched these plots up, mainly Tempranillo, some of which were over 100 years old.
Farmed fully biodynamically, terroir expression is extraordinarily important to the couple. “Our goal is to make pure and fine wines” says Jorge, and Dominio del Águila would certainly win the golden boot in this regard. Chief amongst their deeply covetable range is the breath-taking “Peñas Aladas” Gran Reserva. Sourced from some of the very oldest vines in La Aguilera on the eponymous hillside of Peñas Aladas, this is a unique and fascinating terroir within the region. Situated at a lofty 880 meters above sea-level, these vineyard plots are some three whole degrees Celsius cooler than the average temperature in the surrounding area. A cool climate site, in the context of Ribera del Duero, the terroir is conducive to long, slow fruit maturation giving complexity and power to the sublime grapes.
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 94 (WA) | HK$4,506.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (94)The 2011 Reserva is produced from their cooler vineyards grown at altitudes of 800-900 meters, from an assortment of small plots planted before the 1930s. The Tempranillo is mixed with other grapes totaling almost 10% in this vintage, half of it white Albillo and a significant amount of Bobal among others. They selected the grapes from the plots they thought would provide more freshness, especially in a warm year like 2011. The full-clusters fermented in open stainless steel pools where they are foot-trodden. The wine is transferred to barriques and put in the cold cellars where they age slowly and go through malolactic the following spring. This is a serious wine where the aromas are subtle and more soil-driven and austere, slowly revealing notes of violets and damson cherries with great depth. The palate is medium-bodied, with refined, silky and fine-grained tannins and a superb sensation of harmony. This is really outstanding for a year such as 2011. The 4,000 bottles produced were filled in May 2014. Drink 2015-2020. |
|||||||||
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 96 (WA) | HK$4,500.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (96)The 2014 Reserva is the winery's flagship wine, a wine produced to showcase the vineyards from the village La Aguilera next to Aranda de Duero in the province of Burgos. It's produced with the field blend dominated by Tempranillo from old vineyards in different parts of the village picked and fermented together. The full clusters were foot trodden and fermented in concrete vats with indigenous yeasts, and malolactic was very slow (it took eight months in 2014!) in oak vats. The élevage was extended to 31 months in French oak barrels of different sizes and ages. The wine has an herbal twist that provides freshness, and the oak feels very integrated. It has a magical perfume, in a great classical Ribera del Duero, with more body and structure; it has almost the same freshness as the 2013 but with more depth, compensated by complexity. It opens up nicely in the glass. It should age for a very long time in bottle, but it's already approachable. 9,850 bottles and 167 magnums were filled in May 2017. |
|||||||||
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 97 (WA) | HK$3,200.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (97)Quite different from the 2015 was the 2016 Reserva, a red from a cooler year with good yields, so they were able to increase production of this wine over twofold and increase the quality! It took some seven months to complete fermentation, and the élevage in barrel lasted some 29 months. It has an incredible nose, violets and something musky, intriguing, complex and nuanced, mysterious and difficult to define, with some notes reminiscent of soy sauce. The palate is seamless and with terrific balance, a silky texture and very fine but chalky tannins. This is an amazing Ribera del Duero. 18,834 bottles and 519 magnums produced. It was bottled in April 2019. |
|||||||||
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 97 (WA) | HK$3,788.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (97)2017 was a low-yielding year, so I also tasted the 2018 Reserva, their flagship red wine that wants to be a representation of the village of La Aguilera—fine, serious and elegant. It's 95% Tempranillo with the remaining grapes found interplanted in their oldest vineyards at an average of 880 meters in altitude on limestone, clay and sandy soils. All the clusters ferment together with indigenous yeasts in concrete, where they are foot trodden, and malolactic was carried out very slowly (11 months) in oak barrels where the wine matured for a total of 27 months. It has a somewhat shy nose but is very elegant. The wine was recently bottled, and that can make it a little closed and subtle, and it clearly improves with air as it sits in the glass. It's still young, and the palate reveals lots of energy; the flavors are very pure and the wine precise and delineated. The tannins are very fine and provide for a chalky texture and an almost salty twist in the finish. This is very in line with the 2016. 15,250 bottle and 101 magnums produced. It was bottled in February 2021. |
|||||||||
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 94+ (WA) | HK$2,300.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (94+)The youngest of the reds I tasted, the 2019 Pícaro del Águila Tinto is their most approachable red and is still serious, vibrant and aromatic with great length and still has good aging potential. They use the grapes from the warmest vineyards they have in the village of La Aguilera, form the northern part closer to La Horra, mostly Tempranillo but with some 5% of other varieties (red and white) interplanted in the old vineyards, fermented together with full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in French oak barrels for 15 months. Like the 2019 Clarete, this is young and tender and has more tension than I expected for a warmer year. It has less oak than previous years (only 10% or 15% new barrels), and the wine feels better balanced and is floral and aromatic. It's medium-bodied with a very fine texture, a pretty wine that drinks very well and doesn't reflect a warm year at all, as it has incredible freshness. A great Pícaro. They produced 69,852 bottles and 850 magnums, a notable increase in volume... while they increase the quality! It was bottled in February 2021. |
|||||||||
