Bodega El Reventón, La Reina, 2022

"Their first wine is the unoaked red Garnacha 2022 La Reina from the grapes of their 6.2-hectare, 40-year-old vineyard on granite soils in the village of San Juan de la Nava next to El Barraco. It fermented with 30% full clusters and indigenous yeasts in concrete vats, where it matured for a period of around eight months, but the end of the fermentation was without skins after pressing. Here, the search is for a wine of purity and terroir expression with no oak whatsoever. It was harvested very early in the extremely warm and dry 2022 summer to achieve moderate ripeness and only 13% alcohol, while keeping very good freshness and acidity. It has a bright and clean ruby color (impressive for an unbottled sample), and it's juicy, varietal, primary, quite perfumed and floral, with notes of herbs and easy to drink, with a medium-bodied palate and fine tannins with some grip. It's tasty, fresh and has lightness. It's a good first effort and delivered better results than expected in a challenging year. I tasted the finished wine that was still in tank, as there was only one lot that was ready, but it's fully representative of what the wine is. It should be bottled soon, in May or June 2023, but first they need to get some details sorted for this first year, like bottles, corks... They expect to fill some 21,000 bottles."