Casa Castillo Las Gravas spotlight
Jose Maria Vicente is on camera at Casa Castillo beside the Jumilla vineyard, telling the house story behind this 2020 Las Gravas.
2020 Casa Castillo Las Gravas Jumilla, Spain (98RP)
Jose Maria Vicente's north-facing gravel Monastrell, Wine Advocate 98, an ethereal 2020 you can open at fifty-eight dollars.
The 2020 Las Gravas is 92 percent Monastrell and 8 percent Garnacha from 30- to 40-year-old north-facing gravel: floral perfume, wet soil, pine needle, and a pungent mineral close after 30 percent whole cluster in stone lagares, now $58.
Gravel Jumilla Monastrell with an ethereal 2020 line
Las Gravas is the rocky north-facing vineyard that gives this wine its name. Jose Maria Vicente fermented 92 percent Monastrell from 30- to 40-year-old vines with 8 percent Garnacha, 30 percent whole cluster, indigenous yeasts in underground stone lagares, then 16 months in 500-liter barrels and 5,000-liter foudres. Luis Gutierrez at Wine Advocate scored the 2020 98: super perfumed and floral, showy, elegant, nuanced, an ethereal character he had not found in any previous vintage here, still mineral, with precision and refined tannin. 35,500 bottles, a single bottling in February 2022. This is the bottle that puts flagship Jumilla gravel on a table at fifty-eight dollars.
The house
Jose Maria Vicente farms 170 hectares on the Sierra del Molar, organic bush vines of Monastrell, Garnacha, and Syrah. The family bought the finca in 1941 and bottled from 1991.
The wine
92% Monastrell, 8% Garnacha. 30% whole cluster in stone lagares. 16 months foudre and 500L, 20% new. 14.5% ABV.
The scores
Wine Advocate 98, Luis Gutierrez. 35,500 bottles from one February 2022 bottling.
The drinker
Floral fruit and mineral first. Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb or a hard-seared steak.
Floral perfume, then pine, wet soil, and mineral tannin
Gutierrez found the 2020 super perfumed and floral, really showy, elegant, nuanced and refined, with pine needles and wet soil much subtler than in 2019. Ethereal character, lots of energy and light, precision, cleanliness, definition, refined tannins, and a pungent mineral sensation on the textured finish. The house note is ripe fruit balanced by whole-cluster floral lift from the rocky Las Gravas site.
Gutierrez called 2020 an exceptional vintage here, the finest they have produced, elegant and fine, less color and extraction than usual, with great character and depth. Drink 2022 through about 2035.
Floral perfume, ripe fruit, pine needle, wet soil, dried herbs, dry stone.
14.5% ABV, 30% whole cluster, 16 months large oak, refined tannin, mineral energy.
Pungent mineral length. Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F.
Stone lagares, 30 percent stems, then foudre and 500-liter oak
Las Gravas is harvested by hand and fermented in underground stone tanks with manual pigeage. Vicente ran 30 percent full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 2020, then aged the wine 16 months in 5,000-liter foudres and 500-liter French demi-muids, about 20 percent new. 14.5% alcohol, pH 3.47, 4.87 grams of acidity. The point is gravel, flower, and mineral, not a new-oak costume.
North-facing gravel at about 760 meters. Certified organic. Vegan. A single bottling, 35,500 bottles.
Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Lamb is the plate.
A 1870 cellar, then a family that chose Monastrell
French growers built a cellar here in 1870. Jose Sanchez-Cerezo bought the finca in 1941. Nemesio Vicente and his son Jose Maria rebuilt the winery in 1991 to bottle their own Jumilla.
Las Gravas was first bottled as a single vineyard in 1998. Vicente planted Monastrell and Garnacha on the gravel so the site, not an international blend, would speak.
The estate is 420 hectares, 170 in vine, bush-trained, dry-farmed, almonds and olives in the mosaic.
The 2020 is that gravel idea in Vicente's finest year: floral, mineral, and light on its feet.
Lamb on the board, then a ribeye
Gravel Monastrell wants herb, char, and collagen. Lamb takes the floral and pine line. A hard-seared steak takes the mineral close.
Two plates. One rosemary lamb chop. One butter-basted ribeye. Both can take Las Gravas tannin and mineral.
Decant 30 to 45 minutes. Serve 60 to 64 F. Wide bowls. Air is for flower and gravel.
Rosemary Garlic Lamb Chops
Herb-crusted lamb for Las Gravas floral lift, pine, and mineral tannin.
Why it works: Lamb fat rounds 14.5 percent tannin. Rosemary echoes the savory herbal line.
View Recipe for rosemary garlic lamb chops (opens in a new tab)
Butter-Basted Ribeye
A hard crust for a 98-point Jumilla that still has mineral to spare.
Why it works: Fat and char cushion refined tannin while browned beef pulls floral fruit and wet stone.
View Recipe for butter-basted ribeye (opens in a new tab)Put this Las Gravas in the cart
Jose Maria Vicente, north-facing gravel, Wine Advocate 98. Fifty-eight dollars.
Put it in the cart. This is the Casa Castillo bottle for a table that wants Jumilla mineral, not a heavy oak slogan.
