B-21 Top Recommendation Read More
Jorge Monzon landed a walk-in gig at Domaine Romanee-Conti back in 2002. Why not start at the top? From Spain's Ribera del Duero region, Jorge didn't yet know French, but was studying enology and knew this was to be his life's oeuvre. The folks at DRC got that right. After spending an enviable two years with Bernard Noblet, DRC's cellar master, Jorge returned home to Ribera del Duero and with highest recommendation began work at yet another of the world's top wine addresses, Vega Sicilia. A year later he was offered a position as Technical Director at neighboring winery Arzuaga. During Jorge's decade at Arzuaga, he quietly began buying up small plots of very old vines in his hometown of Aguilera, in the district of Aranda de Duero. By 2013, his old-vine acquisitions had become his full-time vocation, and the beginning of Dominio del Aguila. With a treasure trove of old vines, everything is very traditional at Dominio del Aguila. Take Clarete, a traditional bend of red and white grapes that could be considered a Rose, but has the structure of a red wine but develops the aromatics of a white as it ages. Along with the rare Rose of Lopez de Heredia, Jorge's Clarete is the finest "pink" wine from Spain. The flagship of Dominio del Aguila is the Reserva, among the most intriguing wines of Spain today, reminiscent of the extraordinary blockbusters produced by Alejandro Fernadez at Pesquera in the late 1980s and 1990s. |