The 2018 El Ciruelo could very well be the finest vintage of this single-vineyard bottling, from a plot on very poor soils that has very balanced vines that usually give the more complex and deeper wine from the winery. It's a north-facing plot at 480 to 520 meters in altitude pruned in the cordón trenzado system unique to La Orotava. It fermented with 100% full clusters, no temperature control, indigenous yeasts and a 27-day maceration time. It matured in used 500-liter oak barrels for 11 months. This is incredibly elegant, though the nose is still a bit shy; it might take some more time in bottle to show further complexity, but the texture is just incredible. It has the ashy/volcanic/pumice mouthfeel and very fine, slightly chalky tannins. This is up there with the 2016, perhaps a notch above. The nose is nuanced, insinuating and complex. Unfortunately this wine will have to change the name starting with the 2019 vintage because of a problem with the brand, and it will be called Las Suertes, the name of the paraje where the vineyard is. 4,100 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2019.
96 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Issue # 250 - Aug 2020)
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