The top wine, which is produced in exceptional vintages, is the 2007 La Legua Capricho. It comes from the oldest plot of Tempranillo: two hectares of 88-year-old vines whereby the grapes are selected individually at the winery. It is transferred into 500-litre Hungarian barrels for fermentation, then French and American 225-litre barrels for malolactic, and finally Hungarian barrels during maturation (80% new). It has a beautiful bouquet of pure red berry fruit – red currant, pomegranate, raspberry preserve and wild strawberry that is sedate and mellow. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins. The oak is well-integrated with a spicy note at the tip of the tongue on the entry and then after that, the Capricho has a melted quality – very refined and seductive with a caressing, unpretentious finish. This is not cheap, but it must surely represent one of Cigales’s finest wines. Drink now-2018.
While I am accustomed to music being piped into barrel cellars to “calm” the wines during their maturation, my visit to Bodegas La Legua marked the first occasion where the music was “l(fā)ive.” One hopes that the guitarist, strumming away on his electric guitar on his portable amp, is allowed out for air once in a while. In the 1970s, Bodegas La Legua was the first winery in Cigales to plant red varieties only, and to this day they are one of the few to eschew rose. Proprietor and neurologist Emeterio Fernandez owns 80 hectares of vine around the winery, which is sub-divided into six-hectare parcels. The average age of vine is 35 years, and they produce around 250,000 bottles per year. For those that have never tasted Cigales wine before, La Legua offer a perfect, affordable introduction to its delights with a superb portfolio that I found beautifully crafted, natural and refined.
Importer: Steve Berardi, Denver, CO; (303) 329-3180; and Berry Brother & Rudd (UK).
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