Pago La Jaraba, Viña Jaraba Reserva 2016
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93
View from the Cellar
Of all the wines in the current set of releases from this excellent, high-value producer, this one shows the character of its growing season most clearly. Elegant and complex and refined like so many 2016 wines (not only from Spain, but also Italy and France among others), this shows terrific class and complexity for a $16 wine. It is no richer than the 2017 Crianza from this house, so don’t buy it for “punch.” However, it shows an extremely high ratio of aroma and flavor to its weight, which is precisely the characteristic that makes for magic in wines from, say, Barbaresco or Burgundy. The key difference here is that this costs less than 1/3 of what you would pay for a wine of comparable quality from either of those regions. Enough said. When I first opened the five current releases from Jaraba, this was actually my favorite, though the Pago de la Jaraba surpassed it when fully aerated. I note this only to let you know that this is ready to enjoy now, and wow, is it ever enjoyable.
The 2016 Vina Jaraba “Reserva” from Pago de La Jaraba shares a similar blend with the Seleccion Especial- seventy percent tempranillo, twenty percent cabernet sauvignon and ten percent merlot. The wine is fermented in cement vats and aged for one year in a combination of seventy percent American barrels and thirty percent French. It is then assembled and given additional aging in vat, prior to bottling, and the further bottle aging in the cellar prior to release! The wine offers up a lovely and complex bouquet of cassis, dark berries, cigar ash, brown spices, a fine base of soil, cloves, a hint of Sultana raisin and a discreet framing of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a fine core, excellent soil signature, suave tannins and a long, beautifully balanced and very classy finish. This is an insanely good value. 2021-2040.
Full ruby. Cherry, dark berries, vanilla and a hint of smokiness on the perfumed nose. Gently chewy and focused on the palate, offering juicy blackberry, bitter cherry and oak spice flavors and a zesty hint of cracked pepper. Shows good depth as well as energy. The smoky note recurs on the long, gently tannic finish. 2021-2026.
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Pago La Jaraba, Viña Jaraba Reserva 2017
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★★★ 1/2
Washington Post
Over the past 16 years, I’ve recommended several wines selected by Virginia-based importer Aurelio Cabestrero for his Grapes of Spain import label. Cabestrero is a former award-winning sommelier in Spain, and his palate for the wines of his native country is impeccable. The Viña Jaraba Reserva 2017, a tempranillo-based blend, is impressively savory, rich and velvety, revealing nuances with each sip. The flavors are quite ripe, befitting a hot year in a warm climate, but the skillful viticulture and winemaking handled the heat and kept the wine in balance. It calls for roasted or grilled meats on a cool autumn evening. This is an exceptional value considering the price and the amount of bottle age on the wine. ABV: 13.5 percent. BW: 370 grams (Light).
Viña Jaraba’s Reserva bottling shares the higher percentage of cabernet sauvignon in its cépages as is found in the Selección Especial. The wine goes through its malolactic fermentation in concrete vats and is aged for one year in barrel, in a combination of seventy percent American and thirty percent French oak casks. The 2017 Reserva comes in at 13.5 percent alcohol and delivers a fine nose of cassis, black cherries, brown spices, cigar ash, dark soil nuances, a touch of dried eucalyptus and a deft foundation of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and seamlessly balanced, with a good core and soil signature, suave tannins and a long, complex finish. This is really remarkably good wine for its pricetag, which is only $16 per bottle here in the US! 2023-2035+.
The growing season of 2017 was downright hot almost everywhere in Western Europe, so vintners who were successful were ones who knew how to deal with heat. That’s surely true of the best producers in La Mancha, and La Jaraba is indisputably among a handful of producers at the very top of the quality pyramid in this very big region. Rich and ripe with more structure and oak showing even than the younger 2020 “Selección Especial” from this house, this is a truly astonishing bargain for $16. A blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Merlot that was aged for 12 months in 70% American and 30% French oak barrels. Some tasters will actually prefer this wine to the slightly more expensive “Selección Especial” from 2020, that though I do not lean that way, anybody who finds any of the wines from this house to buy would be insane not to try all of them.
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