D.O. Cigales
Bodegas y Viņedos Pilcar
Viņa Concejo Crianza
The quality of the wines of Ribera del Duero and Toro has been recognized for a number of years now. Yet their Castilian neighbour Cigales, with its former traditions of moscatel and rosado production, has largely been overlooked.
This can no longer be justified as today contemporary Cigales offers the same proposition of high-altitude Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) vineyards lying on limestone (like much of Ribera del Duero) or stoney soils (similar to Toro). Sharing similar climates with the same acid and mineral retaining diurnal swings in temperature but with more sunshine than Ribera del Duero and less than Toro, Cigales wines are generally more elegant than Toro with less heady alcohol levels, finer tannins and better acidity. Equally, the best crianzas show much of the roasted power and concentration of their close neighbour, Ribera del Duero.
Pilcar is a small bodega by Spanish standards with just 15 ha. of vineyards surrounding the winery at 720m in a locality known as Carreduenas which lends its name to the bodegas line of entry level wines. Here the proportion of limestone is particularly high though some vineyards are strewn with large round Rhone-like heat retaining stones.
The bodega is owned and run with great energy by Enrique Concejo and one of his six brothers. The very best wines are bottled under the Viņa Concejo label after the family name. Pilcar itself is a combination of the first names of Enrique's grandparents Pilar and Carlos.
The Cigales D.O. requires a minimum of 85% Tinto Fino but the Pilcar vineyards are 100%. The grapes ripen slowly at this altitude and are hand-harvested in October before being quickly processed following careful sorting and total destemming. Great emphasis is placed on full phenolic ripeness not simply high grape sugar levels. Gentle extraction is achieved by macerations of up to a month with several pumpings over a day. The wines are made by Felix Antonio Gonzalez, a leading regional oenologist and winemaker at the leading Matarromera estate in Ribera del Duero.
Enrique uses almost 200 barrels of American and French Allier oak for malolactic and raising of the wines. His aim is always to keep the wine, not the oak, in the forefront. It is also policy not to release immature wines onto the market or to make wines under the Viņaconcejo label in poor vintages.
Tasting & Technical notes
Hand harvested in October of 1999, the finest tempranillo grapes were carefully selected from the vineyard's best plots and underwent fermentation in temperature controlled stainless steel tanks. After aging for a year in French and American oak, the wine was lightly filtered, bottled and aged for another year.
This complex and well-balanced wine shows deep red/purple colors with hues of red cherry at the rim. On the nose notes of ripe red and black fruits dominate. A juicy & succulent entry leads to a full bodied mid-palate with great depth of fruit. Hints of mineral, spice and vanilla round out the palate and give way to a medium-long, velvety finish. At 13.5% alcohol the wine deftly balances ripe fruit, tannin and acidity and pairs pleasurably with red meats and aged cheeses.
International Awards
Bronze Medal in the International Zurich Tasting, November 2003
Silver Medal in a press tasting of wines from D.O. Cigales
organized by the VINOS DE ESPAŅA Magazine , November 2003
Outstanding wine VINUM , November 2003
"Spirited Wines of Spain"
