Dominio del Águila
About Dominio del Águila
Founded as recently as 2010, Bodegas Dominio del Águila is forging a new path through its incredible cuvées from the famous Ribera del Duero region in Spain. Famed, quite rightly, for its staggeringly rich, bold and uncompromising wines, this young estate is offering an altogether more elegant, restrained and highly terroir-focused interpretation of the region and its varietals. Judging by both the demand for its wines and the critical acclaim achieved in well under a decade, this is clearly an alternative of which oenophiles are more than welcome.
Situated in the village of La Aguilera, Dominio del Águila is the brainchild of Jorge Mónzon and partner Isabel Rodero. Collectors may be surprised that wine of such quality can be crafted by such a young winemaker from an estate very much in its infancy. It just so happens that Jorge boasts what may be the single most impressive CV of any young winemaker on Earth – his very first full-time viticultural position was at Domaine de la Romanée-Conti! Departing France for his native Spain, he worked at one of the most famous estates in the country, Vega-Sicilia.
Viniculture
It was whilst working at Bodegas Arzuaga-Navarro, however, that the ambitious vigneron came across a number of ancient vineyard parcels whose grapes were being sold to, and used in the prestige cuvées of, other wineries across the region. Seizing his moment, Jorge and Isabel snatched these plots up, mainly Tempranillo, some of which were over 100 years old.
Farmed fully biodynamically, terroir expression is extraordinarily important to the couple. “Our goal is to make pure and fine wines” says Jorge, and Dominio del Águila would certainly win the golden boot in this regard. Chief amongst their deeply covetable range is the breath-taking “Peñas Aladas” Gran Reserva. Sourced from some of the very oldest vines in La Aguilera on the eponymous hillside of Peñas Aladas, this is a unique and fascinating terroir within the region. Situated at a lofty 880 meters above sea-level, these vineyard plots are some three whole degrees Celsius cooler than the average temperature in the surrounding area. A cool climate site, in the context of Ribera del Duero, the terroir is conducive to long, slow fruit maturation giving complexity and power to the sublime grapes.
| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Castilla y Leon | 1 | 97 (WA) |
Inc. VAT
£1,357.24 |
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Wine Advocate (97)The white from Dominio del Águila is one of the first whites from the Ribera del Duero appellation, which just approved the category in September 2019. It's also one of the finest whites from the region (and from Spain), used by the appellation to present the new category of wines as an example of the aging potential of the style, which at this address was produced in 2012, 2014 and 2015 and until now sold as generic Vino de España. The fourth vintage bottled is this 2016 Blanco, which is insultingly young and backward, with incredible tension, 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.08, which is only achieved in cool vintages, and crafted as the best white Burgundies, as it's produced with the idea of a true vin de garde. This 2016 took almost two years to complete fermentation, because it ferments in oak barrels in a very cold cellar. This is the finest vintage, with citrus notes, hints of smoke and incredible tension and freshness in the palate. This has the tenderness of a baby and should have a slower development than any of the previous vintages. It was hand bottled—unfined and unfiltered after 32 months in barrel—into 4,855 bottles and 80 magnums in June 2019. These are wines that deserve being revisited a few years after their bottling... |
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Castilla y Leon | 1 | 97 (TA) |
Inc. VAT
£859.24 |
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Tim Atkin MW (97)Jorge Monzón and Isabel Rodero's Albillo Mayor is one of Spain's greatest whites. Think of it as a cross between a Jura Vin Jaune and a Viña Tondonia Blanco from Rioja in style. Nutty, salty yet produced without a veil of flor yeast, it's a subtly wooded delight, showing old vine concentration and the leesy, waxy, oxidative complexity that comes from a two-year fermentation without added sulphur. |
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Castilla y Leon | 1 | 98 (TA) |
Inc. VAT
£1,044.04 |
|||||
Tim Atkin MW (98)One of Spain's greatest white wines, produced outside the Ribera del Duero Denominación de Origen for the time being, this is a field blend of Albillo Mayor with 5% of other varieties. Salty, stony and appealingly reductive, with some lovely struck match top notes, it has the concentration of its 100-year-old vines, bread, almond and citrus peel flavours and a chiselled finish. World class. |
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| Product Name | Region | Qty | Score | Price | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 97 (WA) |
In Bond
£1,115.00 |
|||||
Wine Advocate (97)The white from Dominio del Águila is one of the first whites from the Ribera del Duero appellation, which just approved the category in September 2019. It's also one of the finest whites from the region (and from Spain), used by the appellation to present the new category of wines as an example of the aging potential of the style, which at this address was produced in 2012, 2014 and 2015 and until now sold as generic Vino de España. The fourth vintage bottled is this 2016 Blanco, which is insultingly young and backward, with incredible tension, 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.08, which is only achieved in cool vintages, and crafted as the best white Burgundies, as it's produced with the idea of a true vin de garde. This 2016 took almost two years to complete fermentation, because it ferments in oak barrels in a very cold cellar. This is the finest vintage, with citrus notes, hints of smoke and incredible tension and freshness in the palate. This has the tenderness of a baby and should have a slower development than any of the previous vintages. It was hand bottled—unfined and unfiltered after 32 months in barrel—into 4,855 bottles and 80 magnums in June 2019. These are wines that deserve being revisited a few years after their bottling... |
|||||||||
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 97 (TA) |
In Bond
£700.00 |
|||||
Tim Atkin MW (97)Jorge Monzón and Isabel Rodero's Albillo Mayor is one of Spain's greatest whites. Think of it as a cross between a Jura Vin Jaune and a Viña Tondonia Blanco from Rioja in style. Nutty, salty yet produced without a veil of flor yeast, it's a subtly wooded delight, showing old vine concentration and the leesy, waxy, oxidative complexity that comes from a two-year fermentation without added sulphur. |
|||||||||
|
|
Castilla y Leon | 1 | 98 (TA) |
In Bond
£854.00 |
|||||
Tim Atkin MW (98)One of Spain's greatest white wines, produced outside the Ribera del Duero Denominación de Origen for the time being, this is a field blend of Albillo Mayor with 5% of other varieties. Salty, stony and appealingly reductive, with some lovely struck match top notes, it has the concentration of its 100-year-old vines, bread, almond and citrus peel flavours and a chiselled finish. World class. |
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