Dominio de Eguren, Protocolo Tinto Tempranillo, 2024
Dominio de Eguren, Protocolo Tinto Tempranillo, 2024
- 75cl
- 14%
- Red Still
- Tempranillo
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Optimal drinking window: 2026 - 2028
Protocolo is the Eguren family's calling card for everyday drinking — a wine designed to be opened without ceremony and enjoyed thoroughly. Made from Tempranillo grown across La Mancha, Spain's vast central plateau, it delivers exactly what it promises: fresh red fruit, soft tannins, and a dry, earthy finish that makes it enormously food-friendly. The 2024 vintage is youthful and vibrant, with no oak getting in the way of the grape's natural charm.
The Egurensi are one of Spain's great wine dynasties, responsible for some of Rioja's most celebrated bottles, and Protocolo is their proof that serious winemaking doesn't have to mean serious prices.
Protocolo 2024 is at its best right now, in its first flush of youthful fruit. The cherry and bramble character that makes it so appealing will start to fade within a year or two, and there's no oak structure or tannin reserve to sustain it through any meaningful ageing. Drink it before 2028 and you'll catch it at its most vivid.
Tasting Notes
AppearanceBright ruby with a violet edge and good clarity.
NoseFresh and upfront with red cherry, crushed raspberry, and a faint whiff of dry earth and dried herbs. There's no oak to speak of, which keeps everything lively and direct. It smells like an honest glass of Spanish red should.
PalateLight to medium-bodied with soft, approachable tannins and good natural acidity keeping things fresh. Red plum and blackberry fruit sit alongside a subtle mineral, almost chalky dryness that gives the wine its character. Clean and well-balanced for its category.
FinishShort but clean, with a pleasant dry, earthy echo that invites another sip.
Overall impressionAn unpretentious, properly made everyday red that does exactly what it sets out to do.
Food Pairings
In Castilla-La Mancha, this kind of Tempranillo is poured without much thought alongside whatever's on the table — and that's the point. Roast lamb with garlic and rosemary is the region's great set piece, and Protocolo handles it effortlessly. Manchego cheese at various stages of cure is an obvious and very good match. Grilled morcilla, lentil stews with chorizo, or a simple tortilla española all work well too. It's a wine built for the table, not the tasting room.
We think this wine would go well with
Serve slightly cool, around 15-16°C — a short spell in the fridge for 20 minutes does it no harm at all and keeps the fruit fresh. No need to decant; this wine is ready the moment you open it. A standard tulip-shaped red wine glass is all you need; nothing too large or it will feel a little lost.
La Mancha sits on a high plateau at around 700 metres above sea level, which moderates the fierce Castilian summer heat and preserves acidity in the grapes. The soils are predominantly chalky limestone and clay, giving the wines a dry, almost dusty character that suits Tempranillo well. Rainfall is scarce, which naturally limits yields and concentrates flavour without the need for heavy intervention in the winery.
La Mancha is the largest DO in Spain and one of the largest demarcated wine regions in the world, covering much of the central plateau south of Madrid. It has historically been associated with bulk production, but altitude, modern winemaking, and producers like Eguren have steadily shifted perceptions. The DO permits a wide range of varieties but Tempranillo, known locally as Cencibel, dominates red wine production and performs particularly well in the region's continental climate.
La Mancha in 2024 had a growing season shaped by the kind of extremes the meseta now regularly delivers: a dry winter that limited water reserves early on, followed by a warm spring that pushed vines ahead of schedule, and summer heat that demanded careful canopy management from anyone serious about holding onto freshness. Yields in some areas were down, which in La Mancha — a region that once traded almost entirely in volume — is no longer the crisis it might once have been. The best growers here have spent years learning to work with the plateau's intensity rather than simply fight it.
What landed in the cellar was concentrated and warmly structured, with Tempranillo producing wines that carry genuine grip and dark fruit character without tipping into the jamminess that plagued older vintages from hot years. Airén, often overlooked, performed quietly well in 2024 — the variety's natural acidity and heat tolerance making it a reliable source of fresh, early-drinking whites. Across the board, this is a vintage drinking well now and likely to hold comfortably until 2027 or 2028 for reds with decent structure behind them.
FAQs
What does Protocolo Tinto taste like?
Fresh and easy-going, with red cherry, raspberry, and a dry, earthy finish. The fruit is the star here — no oak, no weight, just clean, honest Tempranillo that's easy to enjoy without overthinking it.
When should I drink this wine?
Now. The 2024 vintage is at its most vibrant and will remain so until around 2028. This is not a wine to cellar — it's built for pleasure today, not complexity tomorrow.
What food does it pair well with?
It's wonderfully flexible at the table. Roast lamb, grilled chorizo, Manchego cheese, lentil stews, or even a simple tomato-based pasta all work well. Its dry, fresh character means it won't fight with much.
Should I decant it?
No need. Open it, pour it, drink it. At most, a few minutes in the glass will do. Decanting would add nothing and the wine doesn't need the oxygen hit.
Is this worth buying by the case?
Absolutely. It's one of the more reliable everyday reds on the market at its price point — consistent vintage to vintage, well-made by a family with serious credentials, and versatile enough to work across a wide range of meals. Stocking a few bottles makes perfect sense.
Who makes Protocolo?
The Eguren family, one of Spain's great winemaking dynasties. Better known for their high-end Rioja estates, they created Protocolo as an exercise in quality at scale — applying proper winemaking rigour to an accessible everyday wine. It shows.
OUR GROWERS
Dominio de Eguren
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