El Vinculo Alejairen 2019
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Wine
Enthusiast - Decanter
Product Details
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Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Intense, balsamic and very aromatic. Denoting spice notes over the aroma of ripe fruit exhibiting the complexity and magnificence of this wine. Dense, buttery and long.A perfect balance between fruit and wood, which makes this wine an unconventional and distinct white. Fresh on the palate with a long aftertaste with fruity notes.Perfect for accompanying first courses, such as Iberian ham and pairs well with rice and pasta dishes, main course fish dishes and even as a dessert.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Made from Spain’s most widely grown white grape, Airén, which is often made into brandy, this wine has a nose of pineapple, lemon, vanilla and clove. It has beautiful viscosity that backs flavors of green apple, tangerine, butterscotch and a hint of rose petal that lingers into a long-lasting finish.
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Decanter
Wood polish nose; the palate is weighty and silky. Praline and toasted bread flavours with a touch of lime pith. Very long.
Other Vintages
2020-
James
Suckling
Alejandro Fernández’ fourth winery, El Vínculo, sits nearby the iconic Campo de Criptana windmills in the northern part of the D.O. La Mancha and is a tribute to and a continuity of the winemaking tradition of the Fernández family. It is named after his father’s medieval subterranean home cellar in the hills of Pesquera de Duero where, in early childhood, Alejandro accompanied his family for their afternoon merienda, or snack, and an evening full of wine and song. The gathering place was affectionately called El Vínculo, meaning “union” or “link,” and was where Alejandro initially learned to make wine.
After traveling the length and breadth of La Mancha, in 1999 the “Master of Tempranillo” finally found what he was looking for: high-quality, old Tempranillo vines, perfectly adapted to local conditions. Convinced that the quality potential was immense as long as yield and selection were carefully controlled, Alejandro surprised local growers by his new way of working the La Mancha vineyards. By sourcing fruit through long-term contracts with growers focused on low yields and precise harvesting, Alejandro ensures first-rate La Mancha grapes give rise year after year to fine wines with unparalleled wine aromas and flavors.
Across his four bodegas, Alejandro’s only deviation from pure Tempranillo varietal wines is El Vínculo’s Alejairén. Despite the Airén variety being the most widely planted grape in the D.O. La Mancha and in the world, Alejairén was the first barrel-aged 100% Airén wine produced in Spain, proving that Airén can develop rich flavors, complexity and texture, far beyond its usual role as a simple table wine.
Outshining all other white vine varieties in the world as far as vineyard acreage—though that is also because lack of water forces low density planting—Airén is ultimately an important Spanish wine grape. Airén vines prefer training into low bushes, which make them resistant to drought. Used traditionally in La Mancha and Valdepeñas for blending with the Tempranillo, it is becoming more fashionable when vinified as a crisp, youthful, single varietal white. Somm Secret—In the Canary Islands, Airén goes by Burra Blanca (meaning "white donkey"), and takes to blending with Malvasia, Breval and Listan Blanco (Palomino).
The Moors gave it the name, ‘Manxa,’ which fittingly means ‘parched earth.’ La Mancha, the largest Spanish wine producing region in all of Spain, is one of its hottest and driest. Sturdy and drought-resistant white varieietes like Airen, Viura and Verdejo thrive in this environment.