Alion, Ribera del Duero, Spain

阿里安酒庄红葡萄酒

点击次数：55437

The 2019 Alión was cropped from a drier vintage compared with the average, and the wines from that year tend to be powerful, concentrated and with structure. They shortened the maceration by 11 days and used concrete for part of the élevage, trying to reduce the impact from the oak in the wine. They define 2019 as a powerful, concentrated and juicy vintage, sensual and unctuous. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has mellow acidity (4.4 grams) and a pH of 3.88, reflecting the warm and dry year that delivered powerful and concentrated wines, similar to the wines from 2015. It's quite fruit-driven, ripe and juicy, with abundant, slightly dusty tannins despite the limited pumping over they did to avoid extracting too much, and the maceration was also shortened. 256,526 bottles, 7,005 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2021.

The 2018 Alión follows the path of the 2016: it is fresh and elegant and from a cooler (more Atlantic) vintage with more rain than the average and a relatively late harvest between September 28th and October 12th. They used 80% new barrels, with up to 10% made of American oak looking to (in their own words) give more sucrosity and sweetness to the wine, as it's a more vertical, tense and elegant expression of Alión. Part of the wine matured in concrete (something they started in 2016), and in 2021 they are experimenting with a 4,000-liter Rousseau foudre, as they want to keep working the texture and freshness. The wine is ripe at 15% alcohol and has a pH of 3.8 and a mellow 4.6 grams of acidity, round and soft. The wine matured until it was bottled in June 2020. The truth is that the wine comes through as subtle, elegant and balanced, with very integrated oak and a nice texture. It's one of the finest vintages for Alión. 257,257 bottles, 7,005 magnums and some larger formats produced.

The 2017 Alión, the only wine produced here, comes from a challenging year marked by spring frost and a warm and dry end of the season, so they reduced the amount of new oak by 8%. It fermented with indigenous yeasts, and 10% of the volume aged in concrete, completely unoaked. The change in the oak regimen helped with the style of the vintage, which was marked by the frost that hit part of the Alión vineyards. Furthermore, the end of the season was warm and dry, and they had to work to control ripeness and power and perhaps the possibility of more aggressive tannins. It's a classical Alión, with some developed aromas, juicy and round but not heavy, with just a tad of earthy rusticity. With time, it develops more balsamic notes and hints of licorice. 230,032 bottles, 7,04 magnums, 614 double magnums and a handful of bigger sizes were produced. It was bottled in June 2019.

The highly anticipated 2016 Alión spent 12 months in oak barrels, 80% of them new and built mainly with French oak but with some 5% American oak, and some 10% of the volume matured in 15,000-liter concrete vats. It hits the scale at 15% alcohol and has moderate acidity, showing ripe black fruit and a creamy texture. 2016 has to be one of the freshest and most elegant vintages of Alión, a year with depth, freshness and terrific balance. Same as they do in Pintia, they are finding ways to lower the impact of the oak in the wine; here, they used concrete, and the wine shows more primary and floral aromas and is nicely textured and with fine tannins. 258,458 bottles, 7,017 magnums and some larger formats produced. It was bottled in June 2018.

Produced with 100% Tinto Fino or Tempranillo grapes in a modern and fruit-forward style with generous oak, the 2015 Alión is juicy and intense, cropped from a warm and dry year that delivered a 15% alcohol red that is voluptuous and hedonistic. It matured for 12 to 14 months in oak barrels, mostly French and mostly new. At first I found it quite ripe, with black rather than red fruit, a little earthy and with a touch of licorice and ink. The palate reveals abundant, slightly dusty tannins without the quality they had in 2014; it's a little dry on the finish, a riper and more powerful vintage of Alión. The nose improved tremendously with time in the glass as it opened up, but the tannins remained quite present. It might need a little more time in bottle to polish those edges. 230,730 bottles and some larger formats where produced. It was bottled in June 2017.