Micaela Rubio Garcia - El Reflejo de Mikaela, Cuenca, Spain (2020)

TASTING NOTES

Silky and complex! Balsamic notes along with cherry jam, peony and pomegranate. On the palate the wine is slightly chewy but vibrant and has a dry-yet-fruity character with notes of red apple, plum, tar, and a tobacco finish with grippy tannins.

The clusters are sorted, and 40% destemmed. The whole clusters (60%) and destemmed berries ferment spontaneously in stainless steel and concrete vats. Pre-fermentative maceration for four to five days, and extraction is very gentle throughout the maceration. The wine is pressed in a vertical basket press and undergoes malolactic fermentation in 70% French oak vat (5,000L) and foudre (2,200L) and 30% in concrete for 14 months.

The valley of the Jucar River, specifically the villages of Pozoamargo and Casas de Benítez, are two of the only areas in southeastern Spain where old, traditional vineyards of Bobal have survived the mass uprooting and modernization of Spanish viticulture. These old vineyards, field blended with over a dozen forgotten indigenous grape varieties, are planted on limestone soils covered in canto rodado, or large river pebbles deposited by the Jucar thousands of years ago. El Reflejo de Mikaela is is Aurelio García's entry level village wine blending sites from the towns of Casas de Benítez and Pozoamargo.

Aurelio García is a winemaker known for his work at Valquejigoso in Villamanta (Madrid) who also consults for Valdepotros in Carabaña, also in Madrid, and Lagar de Isilla in Ribera del Duero. However, his heart lies in his homeland of Cuenca, where he has launched his own venture with his wife, Micaela Rubio.