I have been offered some 05 Aalto PS at a decent price and will probably buy a bottle to try it out. Until it arrives, I would like to hear your opinions on the wine if you’ve had it?
I’ve read the cellartraker notes and it appears to be a new world oak bomb that received a 98 point rating from Dr Miller. However the notes are all over the place as some describe it as more integrated, elegant and silky. I’m generally a fan of an old world Rioja or Ribera del Duero and I suspect this will not be in my wheel house, but I want to start exploring more Spanish wines and this seems like a good place to start.
While not the PS, I did have the 2005 Aalto regular bottling and it was a very modern styled, oak slathered wine. It reminded me of the Alto Moncayo in style, if not flavor profile. If you dig that wine, you will dig this wine. Not my style.
Right now modern - in 10 years it will be a very well integrated special treat…
Just my $.02 but if you give it time you will be rewarded…
Here is Josh Raynolds on the 2004 (fairly similar to 05):
Dark ruby. Strongly perfumed scents of exotic cherry-cola, blackberry, vanilla and Asian spices. Weighty but focused dark fruit flavors offer striking clarity and palate-staining concentration, with soft tannins building on the close. The cola quality lingers on the long, sweet finish. This wonderfully balances richness and vivacity.
Awesome wine! I asked for and received 3 bottles each of their 2005 regular and PS bottlings for Christmas (Thanks Sis!! )
I agree with Matt… modern early and then becomes more old world-ish later. But I disagree with Loren that they’re Alto Moncayo like. OK, if I had to say if they are they closer to Alto Moncayo or Vega Sicilia, I guess I’d have to say they lean more towards AM… but still pretty close to the middle of that range.
I recently had a bottle of 01 PS that I thought was showing great, and was definitely showing some old world characteristics. But it was still a pretty bold wine.
If you like the Aaltos, you should also look into finding some Bodegas Mauro, another project of Mariano with his sons.
To be honest, Brian, I had the 1996 VS Unico recently and felt that it too had seemed to feel the pull of the modern style. This wine much more so. But my palate runs more toward Rioja, Lopez Heredia and CVNE Imperial Reserva. Different strokes. I do like the Emilio Moro wines…good value and I think a bit more balanced.
I personally don’t think Alto Moncayo and AALTO PS taste at all alike (or are even in the same league when it comes to quality)…like comparing sandpaper to apples IMHO (not saying one tastes like sandpaper and the other apples)…
Well, it would be hard for them to taste alike as they are not the same grape or the same region. I was comparing the styles. Both are extracted and both have a liberal use of new oak. VERY liberal. Again, I have not had the PS.
Sexy aromas of red and dark berries, sandalwood, spicecake and fresh rose. Spicy, concentrated raspberry and blackberry flavors are given spine by zesty minerals and pick up a smoky quality with air. Impressively lively for such a rich wine, with strong finishing spiciness and lingering notes of licorice and red berries."
AAlto PS IWC review:
Strongly perfumed scents of exotic cherry-cola, blackberry, vanilla and Asian spices. Weighty but focused dark fruit flavors offer striking clarity and palate-staining concentration, with soft tannins building on the close. The cola quality lingers on the long, sweet finish. This wonderfully balances richness and vivacity.
I post this just to point out the similar descriptors (sexy berries & strongly perfumed and exotic berries / Concentrated & Weighty but focused, staining concentration) and the focus on “richness” and “vivacity/liveliness” for both. Now, mind you, I think this is more descriptive of the style than the flavors/aromas. Sorry to belabor…I’m done!
They pull all of their tinto fino from Burgos. The have 7 hectare around the winery, although I believe this is just for experimentation. I mentioned Burgos because the soils are predominately deep sands and clays, missing the calcareous soils you find at vega. The wines from Burgos tend to have higher pH’s ( given temp is a high pH variety) if I recall the average pH at Aalto is about 4.0, lending to the round mouth feel. The wines are cold soaked for 6 to 8 days, something that does not occur at vega. They are then fermented hot up to 31 degrees andleft to macerate for up to 30 days, vega macerates for only 2 weeks. 20 to 30 percent of their wines finish ml in barrel, the rest finish in oak, inox, or cement tanks.they use 40% American oak and 60% percent French, of which 60- 70 percent is new oak. 1/10th of the production makes the ps cut, ~ 10000 bottles. The regular Aalto is bottled after about 22 months, whereas the ps spends 30 plus. The 2006 ps finished ml in all American oak and the was transfered to all new French oak. New world? Yes, but wines that are well thought out, and well made.
I personally like these wines, and I don’t like a lot of new oak!
A “pago” is a single vineyard site, so Aalto PS is made from “selected single vineyard sites” in the Ribera. It is one of the best wines of that region, made by Mariano García, the ex-winemaker from nearby Vega Sicilia who knows the region very well indeed. But I would not recommend it for near-term drinking unless you like something very modern. It is built to last.
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