Grapes of Spain

Arrocal Seleccion Especial

"quite showy and attractive...tannins are polished and plump...Well done!" —

Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

Winery

ARROCAL, BODEGAS

Appellation

Ribera del Duero D.O.

Grape(s)

100% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo), from the single vineyard,Los Astrales planted in 1985

Altitude/Soil

Altitude 855 m. / clay- limestone soils

Farming Methods

Practicing Organic

Harvest

Hand harvest in 16 Kg boxes, Selection Table

Production

Fermented with native microbes for 20 days in small stainless tanks

Aging

Aged for 18 months in 50% New and 50% used French oak barrels

Suggested Retail Price

$42

Wine Name

Scores

Downloads

Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2014

94 (WRO) 88-90+ (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
94	Wine Review Online	Arrocal is a terrific bodega that turns out amazing Tempranillo (or Tinto Fino, as it is known locally) at multiple price levels in every vintage (not almost every vintage; every vintage). I tasted through the entire lineup last summer, and have several reviews to publish soon, but this one deserves some press right now…after turning in the performance of the night at a blind tasting class of 12 wines from 12 countries a couple of weeks ago. Although there were two incredible whites and a 13 year-old, $130 Napa Cab also in the lineup, this was the standout on account of impeccable purity and virtually perfect balance between fruit, acidity, wood and tannin. It is so seamless and so obviously delicious that, when tasting it, you would never actually think of “fruit, acidity, wood and tannin.” Only in retrospect might you reflect on those component parts, as the whole is so compellingly greater than the sum of those parts. Michael Franz - October 29, 2019
88-90+	View from the Cellar	Bodegas Arrocal is located in the village of Gumiel del Mercado in the eastern end of the plateau of Castilla y León, which is decidedly cooler than the western end of Ribera del Duero. Their most famous neighbor is of course Goyo García. The fruit for their Arrocal Selección bottling comes from a fine old vineyard. and, as I reported last year is raised in a fifty-fifty blend of new and one wine French oak casks. The 2014 is an even fourteen percent alcohol and offers up a youthfully complex bouquet of black cherries, cassis, cigar smoke, a fine base of soil tones, graphite and spicy new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and well-stocked at the core, with fine soil signature, impressive focus and blossoming complexity and very good length and grip on the inherently elegant, moderately chewy finish. As I mentioned in my note on the 2011 Arrocal Selección last year, the new oak impression here is a bit strident in the young wine and detracts a bit from what is really a stunning wine underneath the wood treatment. There is a lot of oak spice on the nose and a bit of presently uncovered wood tannins on the finish. I would bet there is enough depth of fruit to eventually carry the oak tannins more seamlessly, but utterly brilliant raw materials are being hampered by the new wood here. Raise this wine in one and two wine casks and it would be one of the best wines in Spain, but the good 2014 is not quite there. I know that new oak is an important selling point in the Spanish domestic market, but just lie to your local clients and use older casks and no one is going to complain, as the wine is going to be dramatically better. There is such indisputable greatness lying under the wood veneer here that it would be worth a bit of prevarication, and one can always go to confession more often! 2022-2050+. 88-90+ (depending on how well the wine eventually absorbs the oak here).

Copy All Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2016

93 (VfC) 93 (VM) 93 (VM)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	View from the Cellar	The 2016 Arrocal “Selección” comes in at a very civilized fourteen percent octane and offers up fine precision on both the nose and palate. The wine is raised in fifty percent new oak and the 2016 version delivers fine aromatic complexity in its blend of cassis, black cherries, bitter chocolate, lovely soil tones, cigar ash and a judicious serving of smoky new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and nicely reserved in personality, with an excellent core of fruit, fine soil signature, ripe, well-integrated tannins and a long, complex and very promising finish. This is beautifully built to age and will need some time in the cellar to blossom, but it should prove to be long-lived and a superb bottle for many decades to come. 2028-2055. Issue # 85 - January/February 2020
93	Vinous Media	Vivid ruby. Deep-pitched blueberry and cherry compote aromas pick up suggestions of woodsmoke and candied violet with air. Concentrated and supple on the palate, offering expansive dark fruit and spicecake flavors and a sexy vanillin oak flourish. Finishes smoky and very long, with smooth tannins building steadily and in harmony with the wine's plush fruit. Aged for 16 months in 50% new and 50% used 225-liter French oak barrels. 2021 – 2026 Josh Raynolds - February 2021
93	Vinous Media	Vivid ruby. Deep-pitched blueberry and cherry compote aromas pick up suggestions of woodsmoke and candied violet with air. Concentrated and supple on the palate, offering expansive dark fruit and spicecake flavors and a sexy vanillin oak flourish. Finishes smoky and very long, with smooth tannins building steadily and in harmony with the wine's plush fruit. Aged for 16 months in 50% new and 50% used 225-liter French oak barrels. 2021 – 2026 Josh Raynolds - February 2021

Copy All Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2017

93 (WRO) 92+ (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	Wine Review Online	Arrocal is among my favorite bodegas in Ribera del Duero, which is in turn among my favorite regions in the world — and arguably Spain’s best source for pure but powerful Tempranillo. The great thing about the bodega is that the proprietors manage to make a line of five reds (plus a lovely Rosé) that are all quite differentiated in style and character, despite the fact that all are made from the same grape and from vineyards that are located near one another. One might wonder how this can be accomplished, and the answer seems to be very careful growing, picking, winemaking and aging, as the different bottlings are all remarkably consistent in style across vintages, despite their distinctness from one another. This Reserva is — as usual — a deeply satisfying wine of richness and power, but with no rough edges despite having been aged in 50% new oak. Very deep color provides an accurate tip-off of what’s to come, and the bouquet is marked more by beautifully ripened fruit than wood, though notes of spice and light toast are very appealing. The fruit profile is certainly ripe and the “feel” is rich, yet there’s also real freshness here, thanks to Ribera del Duero’s forgivingly cool nights. These wines age slowly and beautifully (try the 2014 “Selección” if you can find it, which I purchased recently and is absolutely gorgeous and still improving), though they are also delicious immediately upon release. What more could you ask for? Michael Franz - July 2020
92+	View from the Cellar	As I have noted in the past, Bodegas Arrocal is located in the village of Gumiel del Mercado in the eastern end of the plateau of Castilla y Leon, not far from Goyo Garcia, which is decidedly cooler than the western end of Ribera del Duero. Their Seleccion bottling is produced from tempranillo fruit from the Los Astrales vineyard, with the vines now forty-five years of age. The wine is aged for a year and a half in French oak barrels, with half of them new casks in past vintages, so I assume that this is still the case for the 2017 version. The wine comes in at 14.5 percent this year and is a beautiful follow-up to the stunning 2016 bottling. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a classy blend of plums, black cherries, Cuban cigars, a lovely base of soil tones, fresh nutmeg and smoky oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and already starting to get velvety on the attack, with a lovely core of fruit, good soil signature and grip, well-integrated tannins and a long, complex finish. This is a touch higher in octane than the 2016 Seleccion bottling but carries its ripeness beautifully. 2027-2060. John Gilman - Issue #91 / February 2021

Copy All Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2018

93 (VM) 93 (WRO) 93 (WRO) 92 (WS) 92 (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	Vinous Media	Saturated ruby. Smoke- and spice-accented cherry, cassis, vanilla and mocha aromas show fine definition and pick up a hint of cured tobacco as the wine opens up. Sweet and energetic on the palate, offering intense dark berry, cherry cola and licorice flavors sharpened by a spicy nuance. Shows strong energy and solid thrust on the impressively persistent finish, which is given shape by youthfully gripping tannins. 50% new French oak. 2024-2034 Josh Raynolds – July 6, 2021 Central Spain Additions
93	Wine Review Online	I’ve never tasted a vintage of this wine that wasn’t excellent regardless of whether price was taken into consideration. When one does consider cost, it then emerges as one of the best values of any wine from Ribera del Duero, always challenging the top wines—but often at only about half their prices. In 2018, it shows excellent concentration and depth of flavor, and yet these virtues weren’t gained by over-ripening or over-extracting the fruit, or by juking the wine up with excessive oak toast. It manages to show very fine purity and poise even on a large frame, with very well-tuned balance between fruit, tannin, acidity and wood. It is already very enjoyable thanks to its exemplary proportionality, but will clearly develop in a positive direction for at least 5-7 years, and perhaps notably longer. When time in bottle has lent tertiary savory notes, this will certainly improve for a minimum of five years, and will surely hold at that level for another five, making this a very formidable performer for a wine priced at $42. Michael Franz – April 26, 2022
93	Wine Review Online	This high-end red from the 2018 vintage in Ribera del Duero speaks very well for the vintage, but this bottling from Arrocal is always so alluring that the producer may have more to do with its excellence than the growing season. One look at the wine in the glass reveals its seriousness, as it is very deeply pigmented and viscous in appearance when swirled. The fruit is very expressive and so is the oak, yet they are very well integrated at this relatively early stage in the wine’s development. It is softer and sexier in texture than the Crianza “passion” bottling from this same vintage, and as an analogy for comparison, this wine comes across more as a backrub as opposed to a backscratch — though of course both feel good. Still, this seems obviously worth the $7 needed to move up to this from the Crianza, and so good that deciding to pony up another $13 to move up to the 2016 Reserva “Ángel” is not so easy. You’d really need to try a bottle of both to make a decision for yourself, which is exactly what I recommend that you do. Michael Franz - May 18, 2021
92	Wine Spectator	This is lush, with juicy dark cherry and currant flavors mixed with tea, anise, graphite and violet details. Plush tannins give this nice texture, with good harmony and focus. Drink now through 2030. 1,250 cases made, 500 cases imported. Gillian Sciaretta; September 30, 2021
92	View from the Cellar	Bodegas Arrocal sources the grapes for this bottling from forty year-old tempranillo vines the Los Astrales vineyard, which sits at an altitude of eight hundred and fifty-five meters above sea level, just southwest of the town of Gumiel del Mercado (home to Goyo Garcia’s winery). This is among the coolest sectors of Ribera del Duero. The 2018 Selección bottling from Arrocal was aged entirely in French oak casks for eighteen months, with half the casks new and the other half “one wine barrels”. It comes in at 14.5 percent in this vintage and offers up a ripe and elegant bouquet of red plums, black cherries, cigar wrapper, beautiful spice tones, cocoa powder, a good base of almost salty soil tones and a quite refined framing of nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and beautifully balanced, with a very good core, ripe, fine-grained tannins and lovely focus and grip on the long and nascently complex finish. There is just a whisper of backend heat here, but it is quite unobtrusive and should not affect the wine’s ability to age long and gracefully. This is a young wine and will demand some bottle age to come into its own, but it is going to be excellent when it is ready to drink. 2028-2055. John Gilman - Issue #92 March/April 2021

Copy All Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2019

92+ (VfC) 92 (WS)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
92+	View from the Cellar	The Arrocal “Selección Especial” bottling is a single vineyard wine from the Los Astrales parcel, with these tempranillo vines forty-five years of age. It is raised in a fifty-fifty mix of new and older French oak casks for eighteen months prior to bottling. The bouquet wafts from the glass in a refined blend of black plums, black cherries, a bit of raw cocoa, cigar wrapper, an excellent base of soil and well-done spicy new oak. On the palate the wine is pure, precise and full, with a plush core of fruit, fine soil signature and grip, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and very well-balanced finish. Fine, fine juice in the making. 2030-2075. John Gilman – Issue #98 March/April 2022
92	Wine Spectator	A well-defined red, lively and focused, with a core of dense, fine tannins and a skein of spice tightly wrapped with flavors of crushed blackberry, ripe black plum, violet and Earl Grey. Expressive without being over the top, this is a rich yet harmonious crowd-pleaser. Drink now through 2030. 1,250 cases made, 350 cases imported. Wine Spectator - Oct.15, 2022

Copy All Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2020

93 (WRO) 93 (OB) 93 (TA) 93 (VfC)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
93	Wine Review Online	Bodegas Arrocal 2020 “Selección Especial” is such a silky sexpot of a Tempranillo that few blind tasters will believe it spent 18 months in oak, 50% of it new (even when learning that all the barrels were French). The only way to explain the delightful result must be the quality of the fruit, drawn from the single site Los Astrales vineyard, which was planted nearly 40 years ago. The aromas feature ripe fruit notes much more than ones that are wood-derived, and though there are spice notes that offset the dark cherry fruit beautifully, the fruit stays in the foreground from the first whiff through the last sensory signal in the wine’s finish. For a 2020 wine to showcase fruit that can already outrun both the tannin and oak load is remarkable, but this wine’s track record shows that it can improve for at least a decade. By the 10-year mark from now, I worry that my score will look embarrassingly stingy in retrospect. All the Arrocal wines offer excellent value at their various levels, but it is hard not to see this as the sweet spot buy in the lineup. Michael Franz – September 12, 2023
93	OwenBargreen.com	2020 Bodegas Arrocal ‘Selección Especial’ Ribera del Duero- The highly refined 2020 ‘Selección Especial’ comes from the Los Astrales Vineyard which was planted back in 1985. The palate is neat and concentrated, with fantastic underlying finesse and refined tannins. Black tea, asian spices and deep dark fruits line the palate, alongside the salty and stony undertones. This is seriously good stuff that has loads of aging potential. Drink 2023-2038- Owen Bargreen - October, 2023
93	Tim Atkin MW
93	View from the Cellar	The 2020 Selección Especial from Bodegas Arrocal is a touch riper than the Crianza bottling this year, tipping the scales at 14.5 percent octane. The vines for this cuvée are fully forty- five years of age, farmed organically again, and the wine is raised in fifty percent new oak for eighteen months prior to bottling. Despite the slightly higher octane, the wine is beautifully precise on the nose, offering up a fine blend of plums, red and black cherries, Cuban cigar, a lovely array of spice tones that include a nice touch of savory elements, a fine base of soil and a very refined framing of cedary French oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and quite elegant in profile, with excellent mid-palate depth, good soil signature, ripe, chewy tannins and excellent focus on the long, well-balanced and complex finish. This is another excellent wine, but it has some wood tannins to absorb and will need a solid decade in the cellar to soften up. It will be outstanding once it is ready to drink. 2033-2080. John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023.

Copy All Reviews

Arrocal Seleccion Especial 2021

94 (WRO) 94 (VfC) 91 (WS)

Score	Publication	Review	Copy
94	Wine Review Online	Bodegas Arrocal, Ribera del Duero (Castilla y León, Spain) “Selección Especial” 2021 ($42, Grapes of Spain / Aurelio Cabestrero): This is a terrific release from one of Ribera del Duero’s fastest rising bodegas. Although the wine is rich, structured, and age-worthy, I was especially impressed by how expressive and easy to enjoy it is at this relatively early stage in its development. Aged in French oak barrels — half of them new — it is nevertheless only moderately woody, with nice spice and toast notes that enhance rather than obscure the delicious fruit. Similarly, the midpalate and finish show lovely notes of dark cherries and berries that are firmed up by a gentle tug of tannin but not rendered astringent by excessive wood tannins. This is a great choice for consumers and restaurateurs who need a wine that can show well now but also for those who can provide it another 5+ years to really hit its stride. Michael Franz May 28, 2024
94	View from the Cellar	Bodegas Arrocal’s Selección Especial hails from slightly higher elevation vineyards, sitting at eight hundred and fifty-five meters, with these vines having been planted in 1985. They are farmed organically and the wine is fermented with native yeasts, prior to being aged for eighteen months in cask, with half of the barrels new each year. The wine is a touch riper than the 2021 Crianza, coming in at 14.5 percent octane and revealing a superb aromatic constellation of black cherries, black plums, cigar wrapper, complex chalky soil tones, a touch of hazelnut, bitter chocolate, a lovely framing of nutty new oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit, lovely soil undertow, ripe tannins and impeccable balance on the long, poised and seamless young finish. Fine, fine juice. 2035- 2075+. John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024
91	Wine Spectator	An herbaceous red, offering an overtone of forest scrub, crushed pine, cedar and brambly herb flavors, with a mix of ripe mulberry, plum skin, raspberry and loamy earth notes. This is bright and light on its feet, with well-knit, fine-grained tannins on the plush finish. Drink now through 2029. 1,717 cases made, 750 cases imported. Alison Napjus – Issue July 31, 2024.

Copy All Reviews

Share this wine

Rate this wine

Have you tasted this wine?
Feel free to add your notes and rating.

© Copyright 2024 Grapes of Spain.
All Rights Reserved