Torres, Reserva Real, Penedès, Spain, 2011

It’s difficult – almost impossible — not to fall head over heels in love with this rare, multi-award winning wine, which doesn’t seem to have aged remotely in the four years since it was bottled. The blend is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 12% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc. Only 2000 bottles are made from the vineyard in Medlona, Alt Penedès. What is so special about the vineyard is the atypical slate soil, which pushes and enhances the ripeness and concentration of the fruit. The wine undergoes 30 days of skin contact and is aged for eighteen months in new French oak. Tasting the wine in October all that oak has been totally absorbed by the gourmandise cassis and blackberry coulis fruit which is still in its first flush of youth. Then come layers of dark chocolate and liquorice stick, as the sumptuous tannins glide across the palate amply supported by a fine spine of balancing acidity. The entire ensemble is one of plush sophisticated pleasure. And while the wine is gorgeous now, it will easily age and improve for another two decades or more.