Casa Lebai Matadiablos 2019
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95
Wine Review Online
This wine by Rodrigo and Asier Calvo (with consultation from Isaac Fernández) is something of a project-within-a-project of the family’s outstanding winery, Bodegas Arrocal, made within the Arrocal facility along with a very promising white made from the local Albillo Mayor. My recollection from a site visit in March of 2022 is that the entire production issues from a single 3,000-liter French oak Foudre. When I tasted it recently alongside an extremely expensive wine of a roughly similar type (also made entirely from Tempranillo or — as it is called locally — Tinto Fino), this initially showed a distracting herbal or dry straw note in aromatic terms, but that diminished with airing, and was entirely absent when I re-tasted the wine 24 hours later. That’s is a non-issue in retrospect, as this is a very high-quality wine that merits cellaring even though it doesn’t need more time to be enjoyed (but give it a vigorous decanting if you choose to dig in early on). The bouquet is delicate but still intricate, with faint floral and spice notes atop a core of beautifully pure fruit that seems mostly red in tone but with some black accents as well. These notes echo in the wine’s flavors, with darker fruit tones coming to the fore before a persistent and impressively symmetrical finish, with very fine tannins providing just a tug of textural grip to firm up the fruit’s sweetness, which is also enlivened with well-integrated acidity. Once fully aerated, this proved to be a very stylish and beautiful wine, one that was clearly not crafted to chase “powerhouse” counterparts from the region based on dense fruit and intense oak, but rather with a view to purity and poise. The price is more than fair in view of the quality here.
2019 Casa Labai Matadiablos- This 2019 Ribera del Duero was sourced from 26 year old vines set on loamy clay soils and was then stored for 12 months in large French oak barrels prior to bottling. Very dark in the glass, the 2019 Casa Labai shows off loads of dark fruits on the nose with espresso bean, black forest cake and suggestions of cardamom spice. The palate is plush and smooth throughout the drinking experience, with no rough edges. Finishing long, this round and generous wine is already taking beautiful shape at the four year mark. Drink 2023-2040.
Casa Lebai is located in the higher elevation town of Gumiel de Mercado and these vines are planted at 826 meters above sea level. The wine is made entirely from tempranillo, from twenty-six year-old vines and the wine is raised entirely in three thousand liter French oak foudres for one year prior to bottling. The 2019 is the first release of this wine, which comes in at 13.5 percent octane and delivers a fine, youthful bouquet of black cherries, raspberries, gentle spice tones, cigar smoke, lovely soil tones and spicy oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and nicely soil-driven in personality, with a chassis of firm tannin, good balance and grip and a long, nascently complex finish. This is an excellent first wine from the estate. It needs time to soften up its tannins, as I assume that the foudres were new oak in 2019, given that this is the winery’s first vintage. But, it will be a fine bottle once it is ready to drink. 2031-2075+.
The red 2019 Matadiablos was produced from Tempranillo grapes from one 2.61-hectare vineyard planted in 1997 by the cousin of their father with material from an old El Portillo vineyard. The grapes fermented in a 5,000-liter oak vat with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in a 3,000-liter oak vat for one year to preserve the character of the soil and avoid too much oak. It has a complex and different nose with abundant herbal notes, hints of wild berries and tons of licorice. It’s medium-bodied, with contained ripeness and 13.5% alcohol, fine tannins and lively acidity with an herbal, acid berry and slightly bitter finish. 4,000 bottles were filled in November 2020. Drink 2023-2028.
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Casa Lebai Matadiablos 2020
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94
James Suckling
This has a complex nose of blueberries, dried raspberries, licorice and hints of asphalt. The palate is sleek, with delicate, polished tannins, a medium to full body and the enveloping satiny sensation that makes great Riberas. This comes from a pure tempranillo headtrained, north-facing vineyard planted in 1997 at 820 meters in the village of Gumiel de Mercado. A lovely and restrained expression of tempranillo. Drink now or hold.
The red 2021 Matadiablos follows the path of the initial 2019 with the advantage of their accumulated experience and a cooler and more balanced year. It was produced with Tempranillo from 2.6 hectares of vines planted in 1997, their youngest vineyard, at 826 meters above sea level and currently being converted to organic farming. It was vinified and aged like yesteryear, looking for fine-boned wines with contained ripeness (this has 13.5% alcohol in a vintage when the grapes ripened thoroughly) through earlier picking and trying to keep the natural freshness and acidity. The grapes were foot trodden in a vat with malolactic in 500-liter barrels and oak vats and aging for 11 months in two 3,000-liter oak vats. 7,900 b ottles produced. It was bottled in September 2022. 2024 – 2032.
As I have mentioned in the past,. Casa Lebai is located in the higher altitude village of Gumiel de Mercado, where diurnal temperature swings keep the vines a bit cooler than in the lower altitude areas of Ribera del Duero. The vines for the Matadiablos bottling were planted in 1997, so they are just coming into their prime now. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and then aged in three thousand liter foudres prior to bottling, and then given an additional year of bottle aging in the cellars prior to release. The wine comes in at 13.5 percent octane in this vintage and offers up a lovely young nose of black cherries, plums, cigar wrapper, chalky soil tones, a nice touch of tempranillo spice tones, woodsmoke and just a touch of cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied and beautifully structured, with fine focus and grip, a superb core of fruit, good soil 67 undertow, ripe, buried tannins and a long, complex and well balanced finish. This will be a superb wine once it is ready to drink, but give it time to properly soften up its tannins! 2034-2075.
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