Bodegas Comenge is a family-owned, limited production winery in the Ribera del Duero and was founded in 1999. All of our grapes are 100% estate-owned and are grown sustainably. We are organic certified by the eu 2015. Our natural, unique and patented wine making process was developed together with the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and includes a triple selection process that is designed to naturally enhance the quality and character of our principal grape variety, Tempranillo.
We are pioneers in establishing a triple selection of the fruit: first during the handpicking process, then, already at the winery, there is a selection of clusters, and finally, after the de-stemming, grapes are selected one by one, making sure only the highest quality fruit will go to the tank. For more than 20 years, in a programme developed together with Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, we analysed thousands of indigenous wild yeast strings from our vineyards and selected the yeast string that matched the predefined requisites. We also developed a unique and patented method to ensure selected our yeast will perform the fermentation.
The aging is done in French oak barrels, with the maximum of tree years old barrels. Time in barrels depends on the characteristics of each harvest, aiming to achieve finesse and enhance the quality without fruit aromas being annulled by the oak flavours. Our wines are elegant and yet complex and full bodied wines.
Comenge el Origen 2019 is full of charm and flavour. It is a very elegant wine, big, long and persistent at the finish in the mouth, capable of showing all the charm and bigness of the Tempranillo variety. The grapes are picked by hand in small boxes. At the winery, the racemes and grapes are selected carefully also by hand, grape by grape. Fermentation with selected indigenous yeast in small stainless steel and concrete tanks. The wine is aged for 15 months in French oak barrels. Clarified and filtered just before bottling.
Tasting notes: Medium-high depth, black cherry in the glass with garnet highlights, bright and very clean. Explosive nose, very fruity. Noted for its intense acidic and balsamic red fruit: redcurrant, wild strawberry, hints of liquorice and aniseed. The mouth is fresh with a medium-high structure and pleasant texture.
The natural acidity adds a refreshing sensation that makes the wine easy to drink. The fruit is joined by notes of the ageing: vanilla, sweet spices (cinnamon, clove) and the balsamic sensation of liquorice, bringing positive complexity to the wine overall. The aftertaste is lasting and leaves a pleasant sensation on the palate.
Familia Comenge pays tribute to the great ageing wines of the Ribera del Duero region. If the Tempranillo variety of this vineyard, Pago de los Ismas, is characterised by anything at all, it is its excellent capacity for ageing. The vineyard was planted in 1982, coinciding with the creation of the Ribera del Duero Designation of Origin. Its excellent location, a steep slope of clay and calcareous soil affords excellent ripening and quality for the grapes each year.
After 25 months in new and one-year-old barrels of French oak, the wine achieves its delicious texture, intensity, elegance and persistence. Tasting notes: Medium-high depth, black cherry in the glass with garnet highlights, bright and very clean. Intense and spicy on the nose. Prominence of liquorice, ripe red fruit, fennel, aromatic herbs and balsamic sensations.
The bouquet of this Tempranillo leaves hardly any room for hints of spices from the oak, caramel, vanilla, cocoa... The mouth is gentle and big, but not opulent, showing the great quality of its very fine and sweet tannins at all times. The nose is somewhat less fruity and more spicy; we again come across the ripe red fruit, but also vanilla, caramel, scrubland herbs and liquorice, adding complexity to the wine overall. The aftertaste is very long and silky, leaving a fresh sensation that makes the wine easy to drink.