The Cuesta de las Liebres plot located on a terraced mountainside, located 900 meters above sea level with slopes of 30-40 degrees. Vines are grown in a vertical cup shape, surrounded by low brush. The soil is loamy limestone, with outcrops of gypsum and calcium salts. It is Pago's most precise and pure vineyard. This wine is only made in unique harvests.
Red cherry color with purple hues. Ripe fruit aromas, vanilla notes. Suave and unctuous in the mouth. A strong and noble character. A truly authentic wine.
"Deep-ruby to the eye, this wine has aromas of brambly wild berries, dark chocolate and fennel. It offers a nice sense of spiciness, with flavors of raspberry, black cherry, clove, anise and orange zest. Durable tannins are kept in check by vibrant acidity. Drink through 2042. - Mike DESIMONEZ"
- Wine Enthusiast (December 2022), 96 pts - Cellar Selection
"The single-vineyard 2018 Cuesta de Las Liebres comes from a plot that was planted in 1992 behind the winery at some 850 meters in altitude, where the soils have more limestone and the vines are head pruned. This has been made with 100% Tempranillo since 2014 (even though they have other varieties there), and they abandoned the 100% new oak regime for the élevage and now do 24 months in new barrels with lower toast, racked after 12 months. It has 15% alcohol and comes through as powerful and ripe. It's full-bodied and has fine tannins and less oaky notes than in the past, with balance and freshness combined with the power and concentration. This is a powerful and classical wine that is not produced every year and is designed for the long haul. 10,000 bottles produced. - Luis GUTIERREZ"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (January 31st 2023), 94 pts
"Cuesta de las Liebres is a single parcel wine that was first made back in 1999. Aged in new French oak for 24 months, with lots of dark chocolate and coffee bean aromas, it's a fleshy, dense, ripe Tinto Fino from a comparatively warm, south-facing site, with notes of ginger and cinnamon, textured tannins and fig and damson fruit. 2025-35"
- Tim Atkin (Ribera Del Duero 2022 Special Report), 93 pts
"Aromas of ripe, cocoa-dusted blue fruit, sweet spices and wet stones. Medium-to full- bodied, dense and structured with chewy tannins and a deep core of ripe dark fruit on the palate. Lingering, flavorful finish with hints of chocolate and crushed stones. Drink or hold."
- James Suckling (July 2022), 93 pts
"I always have a slight preference for stable mate El Anejón and its limestone soils, but Cuesta de las Liebres is an impressive wine too. This shows the heat of the vintage, although the high percentage of clay in the soils certainly helped to mitigate its effect. Made with 100% Tinto Fino aged in 50% new French oak for 24 months, it's a rich, heady, sumptuous style with mulberry, fig and wood smoke notes and a lift of volatility."
- Tim Atkin (Ribera Del Duero 2020/21 Top 100), 93 pts
"This has a very rich and assertive feel with ripe dark plum sand red cherries, leading to a flavorful palate that carries plenty of deeply fleshy fruit flavor. Impressive wine with good depth and fullness. Drink or hold."
- James Suckling (July 2019), 93 pts
"A wine that flirts with perfection, the 2014 Cuesta de las Liebres (100% Tinto Fino) comes from a terraced hillside vineyard located 900 meters above sea-level and spent two years in small French oak casks. Its deep purple color is followed by a thrilling bouquet of crème de cassis, crushed flowers, spice, and subtle vanilla-laced wood characteristics. These carry to a full-bodied Ribera del Duero that has a stacked mid-palate, building yet incredibly polished tannins, no hard edges, and a finish that goes on for nearly a minute. This is a blockbuster, sensational wine that delivers the goods. It’s unquestionably approachable today yet should benefit from another year or two and keep for 15-20. Bravo!"
- Jeb Dunnuck (March 27th 2019), 98 pts
Go To Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"The vineyard-designate 2014 Cuesta de Las Liebres shows a lot more oak than the regular red blend from 2015. It's a wine that is not produced every year, and in 2014, it achieved 15% alcohol and moderate acidity. It's very concentrated, dark and powerful in a generous and voluptuous style with plenty of oak. For fans of the style, as it is nicely crafted but a little warm for my taste. 7,000 bottles and some magnums were filled in May 2017. - Luis Gutierrez"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue #238, August 31st 2018), 93 pts
Go To Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"Vivid ruby. Intensely perfumed dark berry and floral pastille scents show excellent purity and lift, with a hint of white pepper and building spiciness. Supple and open-knit, offering intense raspberry, vanilla and lavender pastille flavors that put on weight with air. Clean, bright and seamless on the impressively persistent finish, with the red fruit and floral notes echoing strongly. - Josh Raynolds"
- Vinous (December 2015), 93 pts
Go To Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"The nose of the 2011 Cuesta de Las Liebres reveals the heat of the vintage, it has a dusty sensation over a core of dry hay and straw, very ripe plums and dark cherries. There are still plenty of oak-related aromas that would need some more bottle aging. The palate is full-bodied, ripe, lush, round and exuberant, with plenty of tannins that stick to your tongue leaving a drying sensation. The palate also points at the need of some more time in bottle. 8,300 bottles produced. - Luis Gutierrez"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue #221, October 2015), 91 pts
Go To Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"(90% tempranillo and 10% cabernet sauvignon; aged for two years in new French oak): Inky ruby. A complex, highly aromatic bouquet evokes ripe dark berries, cola, mocha and incense, along with subtle notes of vanilla and licorice. Juicy and broad on the palate, offering energetic black raspberry and bitter cherry flavors accented by candied violet and allspice nuances. A zesty mineral element adds lift and cut to the strikingly long, sappy finish, which shows just a whisper of tannins."
- Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (September/October 2014), 94 pts
Go to Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"Tremendous in its bearing, Cuesta de las Liebres is predominantly tinto fino (96 percent), the balance cabernet and merlot, all of it aged for 25 months in new barriques. This is grand in every sense, with generous acidity, tannins and ripeness: All of those factors find a balance at the same level of intensity. With air, mineral notes emerge as the tannins gain greater smoothness. Give this at least five years in bottle to fully mature."
- Wine & Spirits Magazine (June 2015), 93 pts
Go to Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"The 2009 Cuesta Las Liebres is a blend of Tinto Fino (97%), Cabernet Sauvignon (2%) and Merlot (1%) from a high-altitude, sloped single-vineyard on very chalky soil that names the wine. It-s the first wine from Carraovejas that feels very oaky and whose tannins are chunky - perhaps the result of being aged for two years in barrel. While it has great fruit, acidity, power and clout, it is the only wine where the oak is clearly above the wine. In the context of the wines produced at the winery, this is the only question mark. Wait. Drink 2016-2022. - Luis Gutierrez"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue #214, August 2014), 92 pts
Go To Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres Ribera Del Duero
"(90% tempranillo and 10% cabernet sauvignon; aged for two years in new French oak): Bright ruby. Sexy strawberry, raspberry and vanillin oak spices on the nose, along with hints of Asian spices and smoked meat. Deeper and darker on the palate, offering powerful red and dark berry liqueur flavors, with energetic minerality adding vivacity. Finishes with serious grip, juiciness and persistence, leaving a sexy vanila note behind. - JR"
Stephen Tanzer's International Wine Cellar (September 2013), 93 pts
Go To Pago de Carraovejas Cuesta de las Liebres
Pago de Carraovejas was founded in 1988 and is located in the town of Peñafiel. Pago de Carraovejas loosely translates to "the place where the sheep walk by".
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