Almaroja Pirita 2007 from Spain’s wonderful Arribes region

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Almaroja Pirita 2007 from Spain’s wonderful Arribes region

This is an interesting red from the lesser known Spanish region of Arribes, on the international Douro with Portugal sitting over the river. In fact, if you head further into the Douro Superior, this is where you end up. It’s a warm region, but the altitude of the vines (500-800 m) helps moderate this.

I visited earlier this year, but only made it to one producer. This wine is from a small, organic, semi-biodynamic producer called Almajora, and is the work of English girl Charlotte Allen (you can read more about her here, on Jancis’ site).

Almaroja Pirita Roble 2007 Arribes, Spain
14.5% alcohol. Made from the Juan Garcia variety, this is a ripe, rich wine with the fruit initially showing a slightly baked quality, which disappeared after a while. There’s some lovely spicy, mineral complexity on the palate under the sweet cherry and plum fruit. Currently it comes across as just a touch too ripe, and maybe a little too oaky, but it should settle down with another few years in bottle. Lots of interest here. 91/100 (£17.99 Ballantynes – UK importer is Richards Walford)

2 Comments on Almaroja Pirita 2007 from Spain’s wonderful Arribes regionTagged
wine journalist and flavour obsessive

2 thoughts on “Almaroja Pirita 2007 from Spain’s wonderful Arribes region

  1. Great wine and have just drunk with the wine maker herself today.
    Should be AlmaRoja (red soul) – not AlmaJora.

    Arribes has interesting and distinctive local varieties – Juan Garcia, Rufete and Bruñal lead the way and Charlotte has done a great job with this -her first vinatage in this querky Spanish backwater.

    Open and breath for an hour at least – big and ripe but smooth to boot. I´m a friend so a tad biased but this wine has so much character that it wont dissapoint any red wine connoiseur.

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