Pablo Claro Seleccion Cabernet Sauvignon Graciano 2013

Pablo Claro’s special selection, a house cuvée of Dominio de Punctum, a highly respected wine producer at Eastern side of Castilla-La Mancha wine region. The winery had been dedicated to make organic, biodynamic wines independently since 2005, managed by Fernández family’s three siblings.

Castilla-La Mancha covers a large area of Central-South Spain, it is collectively known as the largest viticulture area in the world. Over 200 thousands hectares of vineyards are loosely planted in the semi-desert area. Traditionally, only grape varieties which can tolerate hot, dry conditions were planted. The white grape variety Airen tops the list and is still the most widely planted grape in Castilla-La Mancha. But wineries have diversified their plantings since Spain joined E.U. in 1986.

The climate has a strong continental influence – demonstrated by marked temperature variation, both from day to night and between seasons. In summer, temperatures can reach 40°C, and during the long, cold winters, they drop below freezing.

The grape varieties used in this wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Graciano both have thick skin, and generally require warm temperature to ripe fully. And near desert condition also means disease pressure is low, allows vineyards to be managed organically and biodynamically with relative ease.

Dominio de Punctum plant their vines at density of around 5000 vines per hectare, to counter the warm temperature, all harvest are done during night time to keep the fruit fresh in flavour.  For Pablo Claro of 2013, they use 50% Cabernet Sauvignon and 50% Graciano. The wine is quite massive in palate, offers pronounced aroma after fermentation. Thus the winemakers decide to age the wine in 100% new French oak for 12 months.