Aalto - Ribera del Duero Tinto 2022

After 30 years as technical director and the world-renowned winemaker for Vega Sicilia, Mariano Garcia Fernández founded Aalto Bodegas y Viñedos in 1999. From the beginning, he has been guided by three principles: old-vine, massale selection Tinto Fino, a wide range of terroirs spread over nine villages in Ribera del Duero, and his decades of experience in viticulture and winemaking in the region. Today, Aalto controls and farms 130 hectares of vines scattered among more than 200 plots, all situated in the provinces of Valladolid and Burgos. Twenty hectares are young vines propagated from a massale selection of their best old-vine material, while the remaining 110 hectares range from 40 to 100 years old. The diverse terruño of Aalto’s vineyards include pale clay-limestone, ferrous clay, sand, sandstone, rocky glacial, loam, and alluvial. This diversity of terruño provides complexity married to power and structure blended with a purity of fruit – the exact characteristics that have earned Aalto Bodegas y Viñedos praise from around the world as the leading proponent of the modern style of Ribera del Duero.

Vineyard work at Aalto is entirely manual, with the primary goal of maintaining low yields. With many of the vines being old, yields are low naturally, but Mariano will also green harvest to ensure that the fruit is concentrated and evenly ripe. Harvesting is manual as well, and the grapes are transported to the cellar in small crates where they are sorted, chilled, destemmed, and sorted again before crushing. Fermentations are conducted by parcel in stainless steel, cement, or oak vats designed specifically by Mariano. Maceration is gentle with regular pump-overs, ensuring a good fruit extraction without harsh or bitter tannins. Once the fermentation is complete, the wines are racked, by gravity, into French and American oak barrels in a cool, underground cellar. In recent vintages, Mariano has reduced the amount of new oak he uses in the aging of his wines and the time they spend in barrel – small, incremental steps to add more freshness and purity to his wines.

The primary wine, known simply as Aalto Ribera del Duero, comes from vines ranging in age from 40–80 years old supplemented with younger vine fruit about 15 years old. It is aged 18 months in French (85%) and American (15%) oak, with half of the barrels new. It is a voluminous Ribera del Duero showing Mariano’s deft hand at capturing both the power and grace of a variety, Tinto Fino, that tends towards rusticity in the hot climate of this region.

“The 2022 Aalto has a dark color and a very smoky nose with meaty notes (smoky bacon?), ripe dark berry fruit (a little too ripe for me this year) and abundant herbs and is quite spicy. This is the prototype Aalto, ripe (15% alcohol), powerful, concentrated and generously oaked but with stuffing and power and the balance to resolve the tannins and age for a long time in bottle. It has a marked profile that will not please those in search of a light and fresh red. This is a thoroughbred Ribera. 330,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2024.” - 93 Points, Wine Advocate

“An inviting nose of dark plummy fruit with a hint of vanilla and nutmeg, touches of vanilla. Spicy palate, fresh finish.” - 91 Points, Decanter

Producer: Aalto

Country: Spain

Region: Castilla y León

Varietal: Tempranillo

Appellation: Ribera del Duero

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml