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2016 Suertes del Marques 7 Fuentes

Tenerife, SPAIN
$34. 99
Bottle
$419.88 Dozen
Cellar: Drink now - 5 Years (2019-2024)
ABV: 13%
Closure: Cork

Suertes is located on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands at the northern end in the Valle de La Orotova. The family have been farming vines for over 40 years but Suertes del Marques began in 2006. Owner Jonatan Garcia Lima runs the property and is part of a growing breed of intensely passionate young Spanish producers capitalising on the heritage vines and the volcanic soils to speak through his eloquent, mineral driven wines. Recently he has started working with talented young winemaker Luis Seabra. The estate has some incredibly old, low-yielding vines that produces wines with freshness, balance, purity of fruit, minerality and authentic terroir character.

A blend of 90% Listan Negro and 10% Tintilla grapes. Cloudy bright red colour with dark red tinged edges and a translucent light red hue. Lovely fragrant nose with violet scents intermixing with sour to red cherry notes, earth, dried herbs and spice. Light in body with a supple elegant feel to the entry, the palate features juicy red cherry flavours which are counterpointed by traces of sour cherry. Winter strawberry, delicate earth, infusions of dried herbs and spicy pepper are also evident. Slightly dryish tannins give the finish a gentle chalky feel. Good balanced fresh acidity with a lingering red fruit and pepper laced aftertaste. A very savoury Spanish blend that has some textural similarities to Pinot Noir.
Drink over the next 4-5 years.
Alc. 13%

Other Reviews....
The 2016 7 Fuentes will give you an idea of how the vintage behaved at Suertes del Marqués. They did multiple fermentations, most in concrete but some in stainless steel without temperature control—as the grapes were cooled down—and with indigenous yeasts. They used around 10% full clusters. Some 60% of the volume matured in concrete for nine months, while the rest was in used 500-liter oak barrels and one new 4,500-liter oak foudre. This has even less color than the 2015, and feels sharp, a little raw, very volcanic and peppery, and it feels like there's one extra step in complexity and depth here. The palate is really nice, electric and, curiously enough, seems sharp, but at the same time, it has volume. This could very well be my favorite vintage of 7 Fuentes to date. 56,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2017.
93 points
Luis Gutiérrez - Wine Advocate #234 (Dec 2017)

Earthy and slightly funky with discreet red fruit aromas, this is a sleek and polished Canary Island red with a long, polished finish. Drink or hold. A blend of listán negro and tintilla.
91 points
JamesSuckling.com

90 Listán Negro, 10% Tintilla. Vine age 10–100 years. Many different plots fermented separately. Fermented spontaneously in small concrete and inox tanks. 60% aged in concrete and 40% in 500-litre oak casks.
Light cherry red. Very smoky and invitingly dusty on the nose, like crushed rocks. Tangy red fruit, more cranberry than anything sweeter smelling. Herbal and peppery too. Smells very fresh and it proves to be so on the palate. Juicy and fresh but with beautifully fine dusty tannins and that note of white pepper. Long and almost little salty on its mouth-watering finish. Scented cool-climate impression. Light-bodied but not in the least insubstantial.
17/20 points
Julia Harding MW - jancisrobinson.com