94pts Wine Review Online– 2014 vintage

“Arrocal is a terrific bodega that turns out amazing Tempranillo (or Tinto Fino, as it is known locally) at multiple price levels in every vintage (not almost every vintage; every vintage). I tasted through the entire lineup last summer, and have several reviews to publish soon, but this one deserves some press right now…after turning in the performance of the night at a blind tasting class of 12 wines from 12 countries a couple of weeks ago. Although there were two incredible whites and a 13 year-old, $130 Napa Cab also in the lineup, this was the standout on account of impeccable purity and virtually perfect balance between fruit, acidity, wood and tannin. It is so seamless and so obviously delicious that, when tasting it, you would never actually think of ‘fruit, acidity, wood and tannin.’ Only in retrospect might you reflect on those component parts, as the whole is so compellingly greater than the sum of those parts.”

88-90+pts View from the Cellar– 2014 vintage

“The 2014 is an even fourteen percent alcohol and offers up a youthfully complex bouquet of black
cherries, cassis, cigar smoke, a fine base of soil tones, graphite and spicy new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and well-stocked at the core, with fine soil signature, impressive focus and blossoming complexity and very good length and grip on the inherently elegant, moderately chewy finish…There is a lot of oak spice on the nose and a bit of presently uncovered wood tannins on the finish…There is such indisputable greatness lying under the wood veneer here that it would be worth a bit of prevarication, and one can always go to confession more often! 2022-2050+.”