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.
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Castilla y Leon | 1 | 98 (TA) | HK$8,405.00 | |||||
Tim Atkin MW (98)One of Spain's greatest white wines, produced outside the Ribera del Duero Denominación de Origen for the time being, this is a field blend of Albillo Mayor with 5% of other varieties. Salty, stony and appealingly reductive, with some lovely struck match top notes, it has the concentration of its 100-year-old vines, bread, almond and citrus peel flavours and a chiselled finish. World class. |
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Castilla y Leon | 2 | 98 (WA) | HK$14,000.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (98)I tasted two vintages of the single-vineyard Canta la Perdiz, from the vineyard that they consider to produce their most elegant red. The youngest of the two, the 2019 Canta la Perdiz was cropped from a warm and dry year, fermented with indigenous yeasts in concrete with full clusters and a slow malolactic in barrel (seven months) and then spent 35 months in French oak barrels. It has a very expressive nose that is open and immediate, with polished tannins and surprisingly integrated oak after such a long élevage. It's a vintage of pleasure and juiciness but with serious structure and depth, and it is very harmonious and balanced with fine-grained chalky tannins. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.55 denoting good freshness. 1,847 bottles and 30 magnums produced. It was bottled in September 2022. |
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Castilla y Leon | 1 | 96 (WA) | HK$2,960.00 | |||||
Wine Advocate (96)2019 was a warm and dry low-yielding year, somewhat similar to 2015, and the 2019 Reserva could be the modern version of the 2015—a round, lush and approachable Reserva that is perfumed and fruit-driven, with spices in the background. It's a hedonist cuvée of 95% Tempranillo and 5% other grapes from some of the oldest grapes in the village. It fermented in concrete with indigenous yeasts followed by a slow malolactic in 228-liter French oak barrels, mostly used, where the wine matured for 35 months. It reveals very good integration of the oak that is neatly folded into the wine. It shows the tannic structure of the 2019 vintage. 23,875 bottles and 430 magnums produced. It was bottled in September 2022. |
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Castilla y Leon | 1 | 94+ (WA) | HK$2,280.00 | |||||
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. |
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