Alaya Tierra - Vegan

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Jan/2024

2021 -

"The opaque and very dark 2021 Alaya Tierra has a heady nose with very ripe berry fruit, notes of tomato vine and a full-bodied and round palate with abundant, slightly dusty tannins. This matured in new French oak barrels for 15 months. It should develop nicely in bottle. 18,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2023."

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Apr/2022

2020 -

"The perfect Mediterranean vintage of 2020 delivered a 2020 Alaya Tierra that is very complete and powerful in its style, but with balance and depth and the clout to take the 15 months in new barriques. The wines from 2020 have more acidity and are a little less concentrated and especially balanced. This has 15% alcohol (the 2018 and 2018 had 15.5% and the 2017 had 16%). It has a little more balance and freshness, and despite the fact that the wine is very young and still marked by the élevage in barrel, it should come around with a little more time in bottle. A powerful, full-bodied, full-throttle Garnacha Tintorera. 18,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2021."

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Apr/2022

2019 -

"The 2019 Alaya Tierra, like all the wines from 2019, was marked by the torrential rains that hit the vineyards during the month of September. This is pure Garnacha Tintorera from old vines planted at 1,000 meters in elevation that matured in new barrels for 15 months. The wine is less concentrated and tannic than the 2018 I tasted next to it, a little more fluid, and with rounder tannins. 18,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2021."

James Suckling, Jan/2022

2019 -

"Intense, perfumed nose of ripe blueberries, stewed plums, cooked lemons and coriander. It’s full-bodied with ripe, velvety tannins. Flavorful and plush with a rich, sticky texture. Big wine, but just about balanced. Vegan. Drink or hold."

Guía Peñin 2020

2017 -

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Sept/2020

2017 -

"The powerful 2017 Alaya Tierra is 100% old-vine Garnacha Tintorera. It is a ripe, heady and dense red that hits the scale at 16% alcohol and close to six grams of residual sugar from very ripe grapes in a very dry and warm year. It fermented in stainless steel with neutral yeasts and matured for 15 months in brand-new French barriques, where it also underwent malolactic fermentation. It has notes of ripe and candied fruit, the grapes are so ripe that it's impossible to ferment it completely dry, so there's always a little sweetness here. It's a full-throttle, full-bodied, concentrated ripe and tannic red in need of a T-bone and/or years in bottle. There is a smoky and meaty touch here and in some of the other wines that somehow made me think of a Syrah from the Northern Rhône. It has a very specific profile, very good in its kind. 18,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2019."

James Suckling, Jul/2019

2017 -

"Blackberry and blueberry character with lots of smoky oak, but it's sexy and polished. Full body. Dense and focused. Pushes the limits a little, but all there. Drink now or hold."

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous, Apr/2019

2016 -

"Vivid purple. An explosively perfumed bouquet evokes blackberry and blueberry preserves, incense, exotic spices and vanilla, with floral and mineral accents building in the glass. Lush and deeply concentrated but lively as well, offering palate-coating, alluringly sweet cherry-cola, blueberry, violet pastille and spicecake flavors that are supported by a core of juicy acidity. Finishes impressively long and seamless, with rounded tannins and a vibrant floral note. (aged in new French and American oak barrels for 15 months)"

Guía Peñin 2020

2016 -

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Apr/2019

2016 -

"The top-of-the-range 2016 Alaya Tierra (which used to be called only Alaya, but the name was a little too similar to Laya) is pure Garnacha Tintorera from old vines planted at 1,000 meters in elevation. This is a ripe, heady, dense red that reached 16% alcohol and even retained some residual sweetness. It's opaque, off-dry and heady, almost a dessert wine but with loads of tannin, a little à la Recioto. It has so much tannin that the sweetness is not really perceptible. This is a difficult wine, a bit freaky, but perhaps with a few years in bottle it could be paired with game dishes. It matured in brand new French oak barrels for 15 months. It's not for the fainthearted. I had not tasted this wine for a very long time, and this could be an elegant vintage within its brutal profile. Very unusual. 18,000 bottles were filled in March 2018."

Wine Spectator, Web Only 2019

2016 -

"This rich red delivers ripe fruit in a thick texture, with notes of currant and blackberry, framed by cocoa, espresso and licorice details. Muscular tannins tame this powerful, heady wine. Garnacha. Drink now through 2026. 1,500 cases made."

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous, Apr/2019

2015 -

“Youthful violet color. Ripe red berry, cherry-cola and violet aromas are complicated by suggestions of cracked pepper and smoky minerals. Sappy and concentrated, offering intense, sharply focused bitter cherry and raspberry flavors that show strong, spicy lift. Round, well-integrated tannins add shape to the long, floral-driven finish, which shows excellent delineation and zesty lift. (aged for 15 months in new French and American oak barrels)”

Gismondi on Wine, Jan/2018

2015 -

"While the grey silver labelled Laya may be common to you, the top tier, gold leaved Alaya may not be. As soon as you tip the overweight bottle (OMG, muscles) into your glass you get a sense of the concentration. This is low yielding old bush vine garnacha, from crappy limestone soils 1000m up in Almansa. This was fermented in stainless before MLF in new French and American oak, where it sat for 15 months before bottling. Almost opaque, with uber-ribe and sweet dusky black cherry, ribena, anise dusted with violet leaves, soft black pepper and worn leather. Tannins are cushy and the palate is cushier, propped with the sweet spice of new wood. At a whopping 16 percent alcohol, this rivals most ports; certainly not a breezy lunching sipper."

Wine Spectator, Dec/2017

2015 -

Antonio Galloni's Vinous, May/2017

2014 -

"(fermented in small stainless steel tanks and aged for 15 months in new French and American oak barrels) Inky purple. Powerful, smoke- and oak-spiced aromas of dark berries, pipe tobacco and candied violet, along with a suave mineral topnote. Fleshy blackberry and blueberry liqueur flavors show excellent clarity and enlivening Asian spice and cracked pepper qualities. Finishes impressively long and sweet, delivering a resonating echo of candied dark berries, lingering spiciness and supple tannins."

James Suckling, Dec/2016

2014 -

Gismondi on Wine, Sept/2017

2014 -

"California meets Spain in this super rich garnacha tintorera red made with old vine fruit grown at 1000 meters above sea level over limestone/sandy soils. Expect a big, super ripe, raisiny-flavoured red with some spicy oak to add to its weight and power. The 2014 clocks in at 16 percent alcohol which becomes the focus of the long, warm aftertaste. As big as it is, it will have an appeal to a certain crowd who love ginormous reds. Personally, an earlier pick might be in order here to better express the terroir."

Antonio Galloni's Vinous, Jan/2016

2013 -

"Opaque purple. Powerful dark berry, floral pastille and Indian spice aromas are complemented by lively floral and white pepper nuances. The sappy and focused palate offers blackberry and bitter cherry flavors that deepen and become sweeter in the glass. Concentrated but lively, with excellent clarity and smooth, slow-building, structure-providing tannins. Fermented in stainless steel tanks, this wine was then moved to a combination of new French and American oak barrels for malolactic fermentation and 15 months of aging."