Vinos Aurelio García - Micaela Rubio

El Reflejo de Mikaela

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2020 Vintage

92pts

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2019 Vintage

90pts

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2019 Vintage

91pts

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Denominacion de Origen

D.O. Ribera del Jucar

Location

Casas de Benítez and Pozoamargo, in the province of Cuenca

Varietal

Field blended vineyards comprised of ~90% Bobal and 10% mixed indigenous varieties including Pardilla, Malvasía, Moravia Agría, Moravia Dulce, and Rojal

Vineyards

Aurelio García and Micaela Rubio own 6.6Ha of proprietary vineyards south of the city of Cuenca in the villages of Casas de Benítez and Pozoamargo

Year(s) Planted

1925-1945

Viticulture

Traditional dry-farmed, organic, manual viticulture. The vines are head- trained and the vineyards are plowed by horse.

Soils

Thousands of years ago these vineyard sites lay in the basis of the Río Jucar, and as a result, are characterized by a surface completely covered in large rounded stones - the depth of this stony surface varies between 5 and 20CM. Below these large pebbles there is a layer of iron rich red clay intermixed with sand and gravel for the next 1-1.5M, followed by solid limestone rich mother rock.

Climate

Continental Mediterranean climate characterized by long and cold winters followed by short and hot summers, with drastic temperature changes between day and night due to the altitude. 500-650L/M2 precipitation per year.

Winemaking

After a rigorous sorting of the clusters, 70-80% of the clusters are destemmed without crushing. When building the maceration, the grapes and clusters are transferred by gravity to 3,300L stainless steel and 4,000L oak vats. After a 4-5 day pre-fermentative maceration at low temperatures, the wine begins fermentation spontaneously. The wine undergoes a very gentle press in a vertical basket press.

Aging

Malolactic and 14 months of ageing are carried out in 30% 4,000L oak vat, 20% earthenware vats, 50% in 225L and 500L barrique and puncheon (20% new)

Comments

These vineyards, which are located in the villages of Pozoamargo and Casas de Benítez, are located in the southeast of the province of Cuenca, in the historic basin of the Rio Jucar. The soils of large rounded stones owe their origins to this historic river, and create one of the most unique and differentiated terroirs in the vast diversity of Spanish vineyards. Thankfully, this area was also spared from the mass uprooting and commercialization of Spanish viticulture in the 60's and 70's, and as a result, has a tremendous diversity of field blended microparcels planted to Bobal and myriad other indigenous varieties. This is a little known area with a rich viticultural history, but climactically and geographically is the closest approximation in Spanish viticulture to the vineyards of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.