Eguren Teso Monja, Alabaster

Eguren Teso Monja, AlabasterThe 2007 Alabaster came from pre phylloxera vines yielding a miniscule half ton of fruit per acre. It went through ML in new French oak before being transferred to a different set of new French oak barrels for 18 months of aging. Glycerin oozes down the glass of this remarkably rich effort. Purple black colored, it offers up a brooding nose of licorice, fresh tar, black cherry, and blackberry. On the palate it is full bodied, dense, and chewy, but in

floral and rich

A vein of fresh apple and grapefruit is tapped to introduce unexpected primary juiciness into the layers of confitured

expression and complexity

Aged for 20 months in 55% new oak

The 2014 Masseto has taken quite a bit of time to start to emerge

This is presently not as complex as the Rugiens but the underlying material appears to be of sufficient quality such that more will almost certainly develop and my projected range takes this improvement into account

All of the Trapet 2016s are obviously extremely young wines but I cannot recommend buying it as it’s difficult to like at present and I cannot recommend aging it for fear that it will dry out

red plum and Seville orange marmalade here

I loved this wine

dried rose petal

Readers may remark on my relatively mean scores

Spicy aromas of new oak greet the nose