Rafael Cambra La Forcalla de Antonia, Valencia, Spain

拉斐爾·坎布拉?？ɡ矕|尼婭紅葡萄酒

點擊次數(shù)：1022

The superb 2020 La Forcalla de Antonia was produced with grapes from a single vineyard planted with the ancient Forcalla, or Forcallat, grape that he recovered from 2011. The grape delivers wines with lower alcohol (but this is still 14.5%), and in a way it also reminds me of the Arcos grape—fresher and lighter but with the clout and the profile of the Mediterranean. It matured in used 500-liter French oak barrels for nine months and two months in an oak vat. 5,800 bottles were filled in December 2021.

The 2018 Forcalla was produced with grapes from a single vineyard planted with the ancient Forcalla, or Forcallat, grape. I think the wine is showing more the varietal character, which feels a little more rustic than the other local grapes, with some earthy tones and a rugged texture. It has a characterful nose with some different notes and a strong personality with rustic elegance. It matured in used 500-liter French oak barrels and three months in concrete. 5,600 bottles were filled in December 2019.

2017 seems like a more powerful year with riper wines and more concentration but also balanced and Mediterranean. The 2017 Forcalla de Antonia comes from ungrafted, 55-year-old vines on sandy soils at 700 meters in altitude. This year is exceptionally ripe, with 14.5% alcohol, and the wine seems a little different, with a little more color, fermented with 30% full clusters in 2,000-liter vats and aged in used 500-liter French casks for eight months and a further three months in concrete tanks before bottling. It's quite fruit-driven, and the oak is very integrated. The palate is medium-bodied with fine and round tannins. Very drinkable, but it lacks a bit of finesse compared with previous years. 4,800 bottles were filled in November 2018.

There was no 2015, because they lost the grapes to hail, so I tasted the recently bottled 2016 Forcalla de Antonia produced with Forcalla (or Forcallat) grapes from a very dry year (180 liters!). The vines are 55 years old, ungrafted, on sandy soils at 700 meters altitude and yield no more than two kilos of grapes per plant. It's a late ripener, with low alcohol and little color, that fermented with 10% stems in 2,000-liter vats and aged in used 500-liter French casks plus a further three months in concrete. This feels very young and a little reticent, closed and ungiving, in need of some time to develop some complexity, as it's subtle and floral and you can see it in the palate where the balance is very good and the flavors are focused. This is an elegant, Mediterranean red in need of some more time. 4,500 bottles were filled in August 2017.

Cambra has been recovering the local Forcalla (or Forcallat) red grape since 2011 and has planted 10,000 vines in a high-density vineyard to ensure its continuity. The wine he produces with it is not called simply after the grape, but rather 2014 La Forcalla de Antonia, which I guess must be named after someone from the vineyard's owner's family, one of the few remaining old plots of the grape. The variety was close to extinction, perhaps because it delivered lower alcohol and less color than others and also because it is a late-ripener, which made it a risky cultivar given the zone's tendency to suffer torrential autumn rains. It's a good job they did not rip this vineyard up and that Rafael Cambra is showing us this interpretation of the grape which feels very aromatic, subtle and floral, with almost imperceptible impact from its eight months in neutral 500-liter French oak barrels. There is something different, a note of wilderness here. The palate is very fresh and with a silky texture, very elegant, tasty and long. This is not only unique, it's also great. Very, very impressive! 4,500 bottles were filled in September 2015.