Alto de la Estrella 2019 | SotoManrique | Cebreros

Name: Alto de la Estrella 2019 | SotoManrique | Cebreros
Brand: SotoManrique
SKU: 211
Price: 34.5 EUR
Availability: InStock

34.50 €

Alto de la Estrella 2019 | SotoManrique | Cebreros

34.50 €

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SotoManrique, DOP Cebreros (Sierra de Gredos, Ávila). 1.3-hectare plot planted in 1961 at 1,100 metres altitude. Slate soils with bedrock close to the surface and a quartz vein crossing the plot. 100% Grenache.

Fermented in a concrete tank with 45-day vatting. Light pressing. Aged 14 months in 2,000-litre foudres. Bottled unfiltered.

Wine Identification
Alto de la Estrella is a red wine produced by Sotomanrique from the 2019 vintage. It originates from the DOP Cebreros appellation within the Sierra de Gredos region of Ávila, Castilla y León, Spain. It comes from a single plot in the Arrebatacapas area.

Origin and Winemaking
The grapes are sourced from a 1.3-hectare vineyard planted in 1961 at an altitude of approximately 1,080 to 1,100 meters. The site is characterized by slate soil with nearby bedrock and quartz veins. The vineyard is organically farmed, yielding 100% Garnacha (Grenache). Harvest takes place during the first week of October, resulting in grapes with 14% alcohol potential.

Vinification involves fermentation in concrete vats using natural yeasts, with 20% whole clusters. The wine undergoes a maceration period of 45 days before undergoing gentle pressing. It is then aged for 14 months in 2,000-liter oak foudres. The final step is bottling without filtration.

Expected Profile and Tasting Notes
This red presents a cherry color and is the palest of the winery's 2019 reds. On the nose, it offers complex and expressive aromas featuring mineral notes, ripe red fruit, floral hints, and mountain herbs. The palate is described as elegant, full-bodied, long, and persistent.

Critics' Scores and Comments
The Wine Advocate (Parker) awarded this wine 95 points. The review highlights the single-vineyard origin in Arrebatacapas, noting the slow ripening process on slate and quartz soils. It observes that, although 2019 was a year of more concentration and power, this bottling is notably pale. The review confirms the use of natural yeasts, partial whole-cluster fermentation, and maturation in large oak foudres.

The Guía Peñín rated the wine 97 points, praising its complex, expressive, and mineral-driven aromatic profile alongside an elegant and persistent mouthfeel.

Overall Character
Alto de la Estrella stands out as a refined expression of old-vine Garnacha from high-altitude slate soils. Its pale color and elegant structure contrast with the typical power of the 2019 vintage, offering a wine defined by minerality, complexity, and persistence.

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Alto de la Estrella 2019 | SotoManrique | Cebreros

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PEÑÍN: 96

COLOR: cereza

AROMA: complejo, expresivo, mineral, fruta roja, fruta madura, floral, hierbas de monte

BOCA: elegante, lleno, largo, persistente

PARKER: 95

The single-vineyard red 2019 Alto de la Estrella comes from a plot in the zone of Arrebatacapas at 1,080 meters in altitude on slate and quartz soils, a 1.3-hectare vineyard that is organically farmed and ripens slowly and late. The grapes were picked the first week of October at 14% alcohol and fermented with the natural yeasts and 20% full clusters in concrete, and then the wine was transferred to a 2,000-litre oak foudre, where it matured for 14 months. Curiously enough, this is the palest of the reds from 2019. The second palest is La Mira, the other wine from slate soils. 2019 is a year of more concentration and power, a warm and dry year, according to Soto "a more Côte-Rôtie vintage." They seem to have fine-tuned the handling of the vineyard, the highest-altitude vineyard in Cebreros, and it's starting to show its true dimension. It's a lot more refined than the 2018. I wonder if 2018 was still suffering from the terrible hail of 2017 that left the vineyard without a single grape or leaf. This is superb, what I expect from a vineyard like this. 2,500 bottles were filled in February 2021.

Learn more about SotoManrique

The name is made of the two family surnames, Soto and Manrique. Behind it is Jesús María Soto, «Chuchi», who had spent twenty-five years selling wine and working on winery projects in Spain and abroad, and who was one of the founders of Leda Viñas Viejas.

He came to Cebreros in 2016 looking for garnacha. Back then the wine of the area was sold in bulk and nobody cared about the granite of Gredos. He started by buying small vineyards and bringing them back one by one.

Today there are around 20 hectares of small plots, farmed organically, with old garnacha spread between 700 and 1,100 metres.

He also runs the Cebreros cooperative and makes the wine from its members' vineyards, some 240 hectares in all.

Alto de la Estrella comes from a 1.3-hectare plot planted in 1961 at 1,100 metres, on granite soil with bedrock close to the surface and a quartz vein running through it. It is 100% garnacha: it ferments in a concrete tank with forty-five days of vatting, is lightly pressed and ages fourteen months in 2,000-litre foudres. It is bottled unfiltered.

See all wines by SotoManrique →