Laya - Vegan

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Jan/2024

2022 -

"The juicy and leafy 2022 Laya was produced with 70% Garnacha Tintorera and 30% Monastrell, looking for a fruit-driven and easy-to-drink red with 14.5% alcohol, ripe fruit and a soft texture. It's clean, expressive and fruit-driven, with pungent flavors and round tannins. It keeps its poise in the warm 2022. It matured in French oak barrels for four months. 280,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2022."

James Suckling, Aug/2023

2022 -

"Very ripe, baked fruit mixed with spices and a leafy accent. Generous and a tad sweet-ish on the palate with chewy tannins and a direct, rich-fruited finish. Garnacha tintorera and monastrell. Vegan. Drink now."

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Apr/2022

2021 -

"The 2021 Laya was produced with 70% Garnacha Tintorera and 30% Monastrell, looking for a fruit-driven and easy to drink red with 14.5% alcohol, ripe fruit and a soft texture... This fermented in stainless steel vats with neutral yeasts, with malolactic in barrel, where the wine matured for four months. This shows some toasty oak... it's very good for what it is."

James Suckling, Jul/2022

2021 -

"Rich, deep and fruity, saturated with morello cherries, sour plums, grilled Mediterranean herbs and spices. Quite fruity and generous palate with a certain amount of sweetness that makes it flattering, easy and approachable. Soft and smooth. Garnacha tintorera and monastrell. Vegan. Drink now."

Christopher Waters, The Globe and Mail, Oct/2022

2021 -

"Its rustic full-bodied style makes it well suited to cooler nights and comfort food. The fruit is ripe and concentrated, suggesting kirsch and blackberry jam, with peppery, coffee and earthy accents. The overall impression is easygoing; a wine that is equally enjoyable served out of a jam jar or decanted and served in an elegant crystal stem.” “It’s not a subtle wine. Instead, this blend … offers an abundance of savoury fruit as part of its complex and concentrated character. It’s the sort of wine that has the stuffing to stand up to a lot of meaty fare. A wine whose flavour profile and expression seems even more appealing during cooler months”

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, Apr/2022

2020 -

"The 2020 Laya is balanced, harmonious and serious, and the vintage seems to have absorbed the oak quite nicely. This is always produced with 70% Garnacha Tintorera and 30% Monastrell. It fermented in stainless steel vats with neutral yeasts, with malolactic in barrel, where the wine matured for four months. 360,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2021."

James Suckling, Oct/2021

2020 -

"Blackberries, brambleberries, coconut, potpourri and dried herbs on the nose. Medium-to full-bodied with fine, dry tannins and wild, herbal character. 70% garnacha tintorera and 30% monastrell. Vegan. Drink now."

Daenna Van Mulligen, Winescores.ca, Nov/2021

2020 -

"Supple, intense, succulent. Great value at under $17, the Laya is made from bush vines grown on calcareous soil vineyards resting between 700 and 1000 meters above sea level in Alamansa; it's a blend of Garnacha Tintorera (aka Alicante Bouschet) and Monastrell (aka Mourvedre). Cherry licorice and sweet mocha aromas are layered with vanilla, clove and a hint of white pepper. It has a supple meaty character and flavours of dark chocolate, toasted brown spice, wild herbs and fleshy black fruits. Pair: Slow roasted or grilled meats, hearty Spanish stews or aged crumbly cheeses."

Tom Firth, Culinaire Magazine, Jun/2022

2020 -

"A blend of garnacha and monastrell, two grapes that are firmly part of the fabric of Spanish wine, the 2020 Laya is a fine choice for those that love great barbecue-friendly wines. Bursting on the nose with brambly berry fruits but also a peppery spice and a light dried woodiness, the palate is alive with flavour and some slightly gritty tannins that nearly beg for those bigger dishes. Would handle flavourful pork dishes with ease, but also gooey, saucy ribs too."

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Sept/2020

2019 -

"The fruit-driven and easy-to-drink 2019 Laya was produced with Garnacha Tintorera, or Alicante Bouschet, grapes blended with 30% Monastrell from an unusually wet year with torrential rains during the harvest. It fermented in stainless steel vats with neutral yeasts, with malolactic in barrel, where the wine matured for four months. It's very dark, almost opaque, expressive and open. This comes from younger vines yet is structured and seamless, quite complete. It feels like a very good vintage for Garnacha Tintorera in the zone. The palate is round, somehow creamy, and the tannins are ripe and juicy. 360,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2020."

James Suckling, Jul/2019

2018 -

"Blueberry and blackberry aromas and flavors. Hints of black tea. Full body. Layered and very rich. Juicy and succulent. Some mahogany at the end. Drink now."

Guia Peñin 2020

2018 -

Christopher Waters, The Globe & Mail, Jan/2021

2018 -

"A blend of grenache and mourvedre from Almansa in the southeastern part of Spain, this balanced and flavourful red offers tremendous concentration and character for its price. Some savoury and earthy notes and youthful tannins on the finish add a rustic edge, which, to my taste at least, increases its enjoyment factor. Drink now to 2024."

Guia Peñin 2019

2017 -

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous, Apr/2019

2017 -

“Youthful purple. Lively scents of red and blue fruits, lavender and smoky minerals, along with a touch of spiciness. Seamless and energetic on the palate, offering juicy black raspberry, cherry and floral pastille flavors that are underscored by a vein of tangy acidity. Closes on an appealingly sweet note, with subtle tannins coming on late. (raised in new and used French oak barrels for four months)”

Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate, Apr/2019

2017 -

"The entry-level red 2017 Laya is a fruit-driven Garnacha Tintorera (aka Alicante Bouschet) blend with some Monastrell (less this year, because Monastrell didn't behave well in Almansa in 2017) from dry-farmed vines; it fermented in stainless steel followed by malolactic in barrel, where the wine matured for four months. This has a very expressive and gentle nose, with nice fruit and even some notes of flowers. It has tannins, but it's not as aggressive as some might think. This is a characterful and powerful Mediterranean red and represents very good value for money. 360,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2018.

Atalaya is the name of the project from the Gil family from Jumilla in the neighboring appellation of Almansa. Here they produce 450,000 bottles per year."

James Suckling, Aug/2018

2017 -

Mundus Vini 2018

2017 -

Gold Medal

James Suckling, Jul/2017

2016 -

"The most normal and satisfying wine from this producer. Full, dry tannins and quite fresh acidity, but the best thing is the fresh fruit. Drink now or in 2018."

Antonio Galloni’s Vinous, Apr/2019

2016 -

 “Brilliant violet color. High-pitched cherry and dark berry scents are complicated by spice and floral nuances that build as the wine opens up. Juicy and light on its feet, offering sweet blackberry and floral pastille flavors that deepen on the back half. Smooth tannins add gentle grip to the finish, which hangs on with very good, spicy persistence. (fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged in used French oak barrels)” 

Robert Parker’s The Wine Advocate, Dec/2017

2016 -

"The 2016 Laya is a Garnacha Tintorera blend with 30% Monastrell, an approachable and easy-to-drink Mediterranean blend that represents very good value for the money. The grapes are from dry-farmed, head-pruned vines averaging 30 years of age and fermented in open-top vats with selected yeasts followed by malolactic and four months aging in French barriques. It felt a little reductive, as it could have been a more recently bottled lot. It has a more reticent nose than its sibling, a little closed and with less ripeness in the aromas and in the tannins. 360,000 bottles produced."

Gismondi on Wine, Jan/2018

2016 -

"The heft in the bottle reflects the density of this wine, a blend of old bush vine garnacha / monastrell from Almansa. Fortunately, the altitude (700-1000m) and soils (calcareous) has kept a flush of freshness. Dusky blackberry, charcoal smoke, black liquorice tug along with thick tannins on a soft, brooding palate, lingering with black espresso and a medicinal scrub. This concentration, as savoury-lined as it is, requires red meats to meet. Solid value."

Gismondi on Wine, Jan/2018

2016 -

"Savoury, blackberry fruit flecked with charcoal smoke and black licorice has all the structure to pair with any polenta combo."

Wine Spectator, Online Only 2017

2016 -

James Suckling, Dec/2015

2015 -

"A spicy red with blackberry, blackcurrant and cherry character. Some pepper notes, too. Full body and soft and juicy tannins that follow through to a long, fresh and fruity finish. Drink now."

Intervin International Awards 2016/2017

2015 -

Bronze Medal

Gismondi on Wine, Feb/2017

2015 -

"The weight and heft on the palate reflects both the old bush vines in this 70/30 garnacha tintorera/monastrell, and the intense heat of Alamansa. Fortunately, the altitude of the vineyards (700-1000m) and calcareous soils have laced this concentrated wine with freshness. Brooding cassis, black plum, dark florals and black liquorice are etched with scrubby resinous herbs, thorns, espresso and medicinal blackberry, all bolstered by thick and sticky tannins. This packs weight and complexity far past its price point. Bodegas Atalaya was founded in 2007 by the Gil Family of Jumilla."

Anthony Gismondi, The Vancouver Sun, Sept/2017

2015 -

"The Laya 2015 Garnacha Monastrell Vieilles Vignes ($14.49) is a good example of getting your money’s worth. Old vines, rich flavours, and a long finish that tastes like it cost $20. Decant this and serve it blind and tell everyone it’s worth $30."

Beppi Crosariol, The Globe and Mail, Jul/2016

2014 -

"This Spanish red from the Almansa region makes a star out of a lowly red grape, garnacha tintorera (a.k.a. alicante bouschet), which is combined here with 30 per cent mourvedre, a tannic variety that provides welcome backbone. Full-bodied and supple, it shows succulent, syrupy-cherry fruit along with notes of shoe leather, licorice and black pepper. It would be perfect for roast lamb and should improve with up to six years in the cellar."

Antonio Galloni's Vinous, Jan/2016

2014 -

"Bright purple. Powerful, spice- and smoke-tinged black and blue fruit aromas are complicated by deep licorice and mocha nuances. Lush and broad with tangy acidity lifting and focusing the concentrated blueberry and cassis flavors. The supple, spicy finish shows very good clarity and punch. This sexy, seamless wine delivers remarkable bang for the buck."