Convento San Francisco La Zapatera 2018

This is the inaugural vintage of a frankly mind-blowing wine from a single vineyard located in the village of Fuentenebro, Burgos – 2 hectares planted in 1920 and 1940 respectively, mainly with Tempranillo but with some Albillo et al, at 920 metres above sea level. La Zapatera – the shoemaker – is a truly hand-made wine, fermented and macerated in a small tank for 26 days with daily manual lees stirring, aged for 22 months in new French barriques, only 2,779 bottles made. Tempranillo is the main component of this field blend, and it is perhaps the white Albillo grape that helps to give this wine its utterly plush and luxurious texture.

Opaque purple / black in the glass with lovely floral scents on the nose and delicate notes of wild herbs, marzipan, bergamot and rose petals. There is plenty of posh oak with its toasty sweetness in evidence, but the wine is perfectly integrated, even in its youth. Honestly, this is staggeringly good and if this is the first vintage, the mind boggles at the prospect of future iterations.