Garage Wine Co. Cru Truquilemu Dry Farmed Old Vines Field Blend Carignan 2019

The 2019 Cru Truquilemu has even lower alcohol (12.5%) but a little less acidity and higher pH than the 2018. This Cariñena field blend comes from a section of the old Truquilemu vineyard that they have been vinifying for 20 years now and is cultivated with a combination of original methods of cultivating the old vines – i.e., farmed by hand and horse, accompanied by the lens, analysis and scientific ideas of Professor Alvaro Peña [Garage partner] and their in-house PhD in viticulture. This is the fruit of precise focus on small pieces of the vineyard, fermented separately in open-top 1,500- and 2,500-kilo lagar fermenters, using punch-downs and more full clusters and stems than in the regular Truquilemu. They use first-class barrels that are third-use or older and age the wines slowly over two winters, but the wines never have any notes from the wood – the barrels act as neutral containers that allow the wines to breath and develop. The 2018 feels a little more complete than this, which is still amazing. Drink date: 2021-2032. Score – 98. (Luis Gutiérrez, robertparker.com, Aug. 31, 2021)