Viña Sastre, Ribera del Duero Gran Reserva “Pago de Santa Cruz”

This wine seems too good to be true, until you consider where it comes from. Upon tasting it, you’ll wonder how a wine of such immense concentration can also possess such elegance and lift.Only when you consider its source vineyard does it start to make sense: The Sastre family’s “Pago de Santa Cruz” sits at 800+ meters’ elevation on the high plateau that is the Ribera del Duero. Intense luminosity combined with dramatic, desert-like day/night temperature swings enable Jesús Sastre to achieve maximum ripeness without losing the balancing acidity that makes today’s 2012 so special. It certainly doesn’t hurt that the 75+-year-old vines in the site have learned to self-regulate, but even with all these natural advantages, Sastre doesn’t produce a longer-aged Gran Reserva version of this wine unless vintage conditions are perfect. Like a lot of the best Gran Reservas, whether from Ribera del Duero or further north in Rioja, this wine already spent a lot of time in barrel and bottle before