The 2004 Cesar Principe is 100% Tempranillo sourced from two vineyards with an average age of over 60 years. The wine was aged in new oak (80% French) for 16 months. Purple colored, it possesses a lovely perfume of toast, vanillin, earth, blueberry and blackberry liqueur. This is followed by a full-bodied wine with outstanding flavor, depth and concentration. The oak, tannin, and acidity are nicely integrated causing this rather large-scaled wine to seem elegant. Its finish is long and pure. Drink it over the next 6-8 years.Importer: Carlos Montalvo, Fine Wine Imports, San Juan, PR; tel. (787) 782-8008

The 2004 Cesar Principe exhibits less brettanomyces than the 2001 with tart red fruit, kirsch, a little eau-de-vie, potpourri and spice. The palate has a structured entry with mouth-gripping tannins. It is a little dry in the mouth because of its age, although there is clearly plenty of degraded red and black fruit here that lend it more substance than older vintages. The finish is just a little conservative, but this continues to offer drinking pleasure. Drink now-2015. Cesar Principe, named after Ignacio Principe’s father, is a pure Tempranillo from the estate’s own parcels close to the winery, and it is supplemented by approximately thirty growers. Most of the vines are between 60 and 100 years in age cultivated upon stony soils. It is usually aged in 80% French and 20% American oak, of which around 40 to 45% is new, for around 14 months. They believe that the wine is at its peak two or three years after release – a view I would agree with. To put it candidly, it offers too much pleasure in its youth to satisfy the curiosity of aging. Importer: Vinovi & Co. Ferndale, MI; www.vinovico.com