Bodegas Cepa 21Cepa 21 2011

This aromatic red is graceful on the palate, with cherry, strawberry, licorice and vanilla notes mingling over light tannins, kept lively by bright acidity. This has a tender texture, but shows depth and focus. Drink now through 2021.

Smoke-accented dark berries and mocha on the deeply perfumed nose, with a peppery nuance adding vivacity. Sweet, seamless and broad in the mouth, offering juicy cherry-vanilla and bitter chocolate flavors and a suggestion of allspice. Closes smoky, smooth and very long, with gentle tannins coming in late to add grip.

I found the 2011 Cepa 21 very oaky. It is Tempranillo from 15-year-old slope vineyards planted higher up on clay and chalk soils, and aged for one year in French oak barrel. The nose is a mixture of sweet spices, sawdust, smoke, dark chocolate, roasted coffee and ripe black berries, with the oak at the forefront and the fruit in the background. The palate also shows abundant, dusty tannins that coat your tongue with a soft astringency, coupled with lowish acidity. Perhaps the riper vintage -- compared with 2010 -- has taken more of the oak, so I´d give it a little bit of time to come into better balance as it did with time in the glass and plenty of aeration, showing more balsamic hints plus notes of anise seed and fennel. Both this wine and the entry level Hito are now closed with Diam. 200,000 bottles produced.