Frontonio 2018 Las Alas de Frontonio Garnacha 750ml

There was a big jump in quality from 2015 to 2016, and now the 2018 Las Alas de Frontonio La Tejera feels like it's also an improvement over the 2016. It was produced with a Garnacha-based field blend, as the 1.4-hectare 85-year-old vineyard where it comes from also has some Macabeo. It's a plot on clay, slate and quartzite soils at 630 meters in altitude with a northwest orientation. They used approximately 50% of full clusters for the native fermentation in open-top oak barrels, which allowed them to foot tread the grapes. The wine matured in small (550-liter) oak vats from Italy for 14 months in a cold underground cellar. This is aromatic and elegant, ethereal, perfumed—I have never noticed such elegance in this wine before. The palate is very elegant, with very fine tannins and subdued minerality, long, elegant. It has electric minerality and citrus freshness. This was a revelation, full of energy. 

Score: 95 points -- Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate, 2020