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Review:
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Summary of Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi's appraisal of the 2011 vintage
The 2011 harvest has been a complicated vintage to work with. With production reduced by 50%, the few bottles offer glorious results: wines revealing their roots, vibrant and delicate, of an elegant and complex nature, with a fluid texture and incisive freshness. They are, in general, wines that will have a great evolution over time and "which will allow us once again to learn about, improve and continue being totally bewitched by one of the prettiest spots in the whole of Spain".
Daniel Gómez Jiménez-Landi considers himself a novice in the vineyard, his great teacher; he admits to always being at the mercy of the weather and nature, and experiences overwhelming excitement at each harvest, feeling at times weak and strong. According to Daniel, "wine is the result of an intimate relationship between the vines and vine-grower, the work of a whole year expressed in bunches of grapes - not a monotonous, repetitive, industrial product".
Winter in the Sierra de Gredos mountains (Méntrida DO, Vinos de Madrid DO, Ávila) was dry and warm, and brought forward the vegetative cycle by one or two weeks, depending on the town, and generally the whole cycle: in bud burst, flowering, the onset of ripening and the grape harvest. Spring was fairly fine and wet, and favoured the good development of the plants, although the rains at the time of flowering caused a significant loss of the crop (30-40%). The start of summer was delayed, with July having moderate temperatures, allowing the cycle to slow down and the grapes to acquire acidity.
The heat returned at the end of August, as befits the summer period, and in spite of some timely rainfall at the beginning of September, the grape harvest was marked by high temperatures and the absence of rain. It was a very healthy crop, without problems from diseases but with a certain degree of dehydration in some berries, which demanded considerable effort over selection, both in the field and later in the winery. The white wines show good character, with a subtle and elegant nose, thanks to the fact that the Albillo variety seems to suit the heat well and years that are not excessively cold and, in general, the 2011 wines have a bit more structure and more obvious tannicity than those from last year. Their good acidity and some very low pH have also made them wines with a greater capacity for cellaring than in other years; as well as needing more repose and more time.
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