Benjamin Romeo - Alma Contador Rioja 2020 (750ml)

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Price: $119.99

In Mixed Case: $107.99

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Producer	Benjamin Romeo
Country	Spain
Varietal	Rioja
Vintage	2020
Sku	ABT23092202
Size	750ml

 

WA

97

The Bodega Contador was founded in 1995 when Benjamin Romeo, winemaker and grower, acquired a centuries old cave beneath the Castle of San Vicente de la Sonsierra (Rioja). In 1996 he made the first vintage of his “La Cueva del Contador” wine and started to buy vineyards for his plan to become a “bodeguero”, or wine producer. The 2004 and 2005 vintages of Alma Contador would go in to receive back to back 100 point scores from Robert Parker's wine Advocate, elevating Romeo to the status of world class wine maker. The Alma Contador is a wine that one should truly not miss amongst the noise of lesser wines that have bigger marketing budgets.

The new red blend 2020 Alma Contador is going to be sold mostly through the négociants from Bordeaux. It was produced with grapes from three vineyards in San Vicente de la Sonsierra at different altitudes and is a blend of Tempranillo with 8% Garnacha with limited yields because of mildew. It matured in new French barriques for 20 months. He wanted a more classical image and perhaps a more classical profile of wine. It's perfumed and floral, with notes of aromatic herbs, a little balsamic and quite showy, with very fine tannins and freshness, as he used more grapes from the higher-altitude zones. It's powerful and elegant, and in a way it reminds me of the style of the initial vintages of La Cueva de Contador; it's clean and elegant. It's 14.5% alcohol with a pH of 3.55. It's very young but still drinkable, as the quality of the tannins is very good. I think this is the one wine I'd buy from their portfolio if I could only buy one. It transported me to the wines from the early 2000s. 10,000 bottles produced.