$46.99 on 6+ bottles (code: 6saves3)

Seleccin is only produced in great vintages and in varying quantities depending on the conditions of each vintage. The wine is a result of a strict selection of the family’s oldest vineyards planted on hillsides and higher altitude sites that tend to have poorer soil and better drainage. These conditions result in lower yields and higher quality fruit. In the cellar, vinification is similar to flagship Reserva bottling, but Seleccin Especial sees a higher quality oak treatment, longer ageing, and strict selection by the family.

94 Wine Advocate
Their most gastronomical red is the 2020 Seleccin Especial, a blend of the four traditional varieties from RiojaTempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Gracianofermented in oak vats. Half of the destemmed grapes were put through an optical sorting machine. The wine matured in French oak barrels, 40% of them new, for 26 months and was racked every eight to nine months. 2020 was a warm year, and the wine comes in at 14.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.56 and 5.75 grams of acidity. Manu Muga likes 2020 very much and says it’s a year that suffers because it’s in between 2019 and 2021. This is also a textbook example of this wine, a little more developed and tertiary, with generous spice and toast and a palate with more grip. The tannins are not as precise and elegant as those from 2021 (yeah, it suffers in the comparison), but it’s a very worthy wine. 246,120 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2023 after being fined with egg whites.

GRAPES
70% Tempranillo, 30% Grenache, Mazuelo (Carignan) and Graciano.
SOIL
Clay-limestone Tertiary era terraces located on the slopes of Montes Obarenes and Sierra Cantabria.
WINEMAKING & AGING
26 months in French-oak casks made in our own cooperage at the winery. Shortly before bottling, the wine was fined with fresh egg whites. Once bottled, the wine matured another 18 months in our bottle cellars.