One of the most anticipated projects in Ribera del Duero is the one from the García family of Mauro fame. Of course, Mariano is a partner in Aalto, so he has produced a few wines from Ribera del Duero before, not to mention his 30 years at Vega Sicilia from 1968 to 1998… So Garmón is the contraction of the surnames of Mariano’s sons, Alberto and Eduardo, García Montaña. The project is in Olivares de Duero across the river from Quintanilla de Onésimo in the province of Valladolid. The idea is to produce some 50,000 to 60,000 bottles from vineyards in the villages of La Aguilera, Moradillo and Baños-Tubilla. They produced their first wines in 2014, when they fermented some 38,000 kilos of grapes.
94pts Wine Review Online– 2014 vintage
This is the first release of this wine, which is a new project launched by the Garcia family (led by Mariano, Eduardo and Alberto), which sits atop the winemaking hierarchy in Spain with only the Palacios family within sight. A plan to build a dedicated winery for the project is in the works, but for now, there’s no doubting that this is an ultra-serious wine, as demonstrated by its very dense pigmentation, expressive aromatics, concentrated body, intense oak signature and very persistent finish. Although another five years of cellaring will be required for this to fully unfold, it already shows excellent purity of fruit (Ribera del Duero’s particular strength with Tempranillo) even under a lot of assertive wood notes, and shows lots of little nuances after sufficient airing. Indeed, the wine was notably more complex rather than fading when re-tasted the day after opening, which is invariably a sign of excellent and as close to a guarantee of age-worthiness as one can find. Certainly this can be enjoyed today with robust foods like grilled lamb, but this was built to bloom fully in 5-10 years. Stay tuned…this will likely develop from an excellent to a great wine in years to come, and will also likely to be the first in a string of superb wines under this label.
93pts Wine Enthusiast– 2014 vintage
This dark, concentrated number is new from the García family, known for the wines of San Román and Mauro. Like most reds from this clan, this is loaded with blackberry and toasty oak aromas. A massive, raw palate shows abrasive tannins. Oak-forward flavors of blackberry, cassis and coconut finish woody and powerful. Drink from 2018–2028.
92pts View from the Cellar– 2014 vintage
The 2014 vintage of Garmón is listed at the same 14.5 percent as the 2015 version, but it seems just a tad riper in its aromatic profile than its younger sibling. The bouquet is deep and blossoming nicely, offering up scents of black cherries, black plums, Cuban cigar wrapper, a nice touch of soil, woodsmoke and a very well done framing of nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, ripe and very well-balanced, with a good core of fruit, fine focus and grip, wellintegrated, chewy tannins and a long, focused and promising finish. This is a fine wine in the making, but it needs some cellaring time to blossom properly. 2024-2055+.
