Bright violet colour. Fresh raspberry and floral aromas, with notes of star anise and cracked pepper adding complexity. Juicy, palate-staining red fruit flavors show excellent depth and energy, with no rough edges. Quite elegant and open-knit, finishing with impressive cling and lingering spiciness.
ANTIDOTO, HERNANDO y SOURDAIS, Ribera del Duero
It has been said that some of the greatest wines from the Ribera del Duero have yet to have been made, as the highest and most isolated part, in the eastern province of Sorìa is still such unknown territory. Bertrand Sourdais (winemaker at Dominio de Atauta prior to its sale in 2009) knows the area better than most and was drawn back to this region for his own project ‘Antidoto’, so-named as he envisages it as an antithesis of big, heavy ‘international’ style Ribera wines.
It is easy to see what drew him back here to the vineyards around the town of San Esteban de Gormaz: incredibly isolated, but beautiful and unspoilt, this was, until the Middle-Ages’ a flourishing centre for wine production. It has a priceless patrimony of ungrafted, ancient Tinto del País grown in sandy limestone-clay soils at altitudes of between 750 and 1000 m “the rooftop of the Ribera del Duero” according to Bertrand.