Mil Cepas Cencibel Vino de Parcela
"Unique, elegant, open texture and lots of perfume, showing a distinct character of this vineyard." —
Manuel Manzaneque, winemaker
Appellation
Vino de la Tierra de Castilla
Grape(s)
100% Cencibel (Tempranillo) from 40 year old vines
Altitude/Soil
800 meters / unusually sandy with limestone subsoil
Farming Methods
Practicing Organic
Harvest
Hand harvested, with sorting at both harvest and at the winery
Production
Cold maceration for 1 week, followed by fermentation with native yeasts in stainless steel tanks
Aging
Aged for 14 months in French oak barrels, second fill
Suggested Retail Price
$65
Mil Cepas Cencibel Vino de Parcela
2014
93+ (VfC) 92 (VM)
| 93+ |
View from the Cellar |
The 2014 Mil Cepas from Manuel Manzaneque Suárez is produced entirely from tempranillo, which in this region is known as Cencibel. The wine is cropped at a very low fifteen hectoliters per hectare, with the sandy soils here slowing ripening in the heat of summer, so that this is only 13.5 percent octane. The wine includes fifteen percent whole clusters, is fermented entirely with indigenous yeasts and raised in older French casks for fourteen months prior to bottling. The excellent bouquet jumps from the glass in a very refined blend of cherries, pomegranate, cigar wrapper, lovely spices tones redolent of fresh nutmeg and clove, woodsmoke, a fine base of soil and a gentle topnote of cedar from the older oak. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, pure and very transparent for young tempranillo, with a lovely core, fine focus and grip, impressive complexity and a very long, vibrant and suavely-tannic finish. This is a very high class bottle of tempranillo that shares the aesthetic sensibilities of a top flight Burgundy, with more intensity of flavor than weight on the palate and great backend bounce and tang. Really impressive juice! 2017-2040. |
 |
| 92 |
Vinous Media |
(made with whole berries and 15 percent stem inclusion; fermented and aged for 14 months in neutral French oak barrels) Lurid ruby-red. A sexy, expansive bouquet evokes ripe red and dark berries, cola and incense, and a smoky nuance builds in the glass. Fleshy, seamless and sweet; black raspberry, cherry and floral pastille flavors show impressive depth as well as vivacity and pick up an exotic hint of star anise with air. Finishes juicy, silky and very long, displaying lingering spiciness and pliant, harmonious tannins that fold steadily into the sappy fruit. This wine shows extremely impressive elegance for being from La Mancha.
2019 - 2026 |
|
Mil Cepas Cencibel Vino de Parcela
2015
92+ (VfC) 88 (WE)
| 92+ |
View from the Cellar |
The 2015 Mil Cepas bottling from Manuel Manzaneque Suárez is a single vineyard bottling of Tempranillo from thirty-five year-old vines that are cropped at a very low fifteen hectoliters per hectare. The parcel is planted on quite sandy soil sand has been farmed organically now for the last five years. The 2015 Mil Cepas was fermented with indigenous yeasts and included fifteen percent whole clusters this year, with the elevage taking place in older French barrels. The wine offers up a superb bouquet, drifting up from the glass in a refined blend of red and black cherries, a lovely touch of cinnamon and clove, plenty of soil tones, cigar ash and a very discreet base of spicy oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, suave on the attack and plenty deep at the core, with modest tannins, tangy acids and excellent length and grip on the complex and very classy finish. This is the most Rioja-like wine I have ever had the pleasure to taste from La Mancha! Fine, fine juice. 2018-2040.
Issue #75 – May/June 2018 |
|
| 88 |
Wine Enthusiast |
This Tempranillo’s ripe berry aromas devolve into leathery, raisiny notes as they unwind. It’s dense and chewy on the palate, with herbal raspberry and plum flavors and a hard finish marked by raisiny notes and hint of oxidation.
August 2018 |
|
Mil Cepas Cencibel Vino de Parcela
2016
92 (VM)
| 92 |
Vinous Media |
Vivid ruby-red. A wild, expansive bouquet offers ripe red fruits, cured meat, musky herbs and succulent flowers. Verging on feral, this intensely perfumed wine evokes bitter cherry, red currant, smoked meat, licorice and rose pastille on the palate. Turns sweeter with air and finishes long and spicy, with fine-grained tannins sneaking in late to add subtle grip. Choosing your drinking partners carefully is well-advised here – it might just be you, or me, if I'm somewhere nearby. 2021- 2026
Josh Raynolds - February 2021 |
|
Mil Cepas Cencibel Vino de Parcela
2017
93 (VM) 91 (VfC)
| 93 |
Vinous Media |
Saturated ruby. An expressive, smoke-accented bouquet evokes ripe red and blue fruits, incense and smoky minerals, plus baking spice and licorice undertones. Sweet, spicy and lively on the palate, offering powerful blueberry and cherry liqueur flavors that are energized by a peppery quality. Smoothly combines richness and energy and finishes with sharp focus, lingering sweetness and supple tannins adding shape. All used French oak. 2022- 2029
Josh Raynolds - February 2021 |
|
| 91 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2017 Mil Cepas “Viño de Parcela” from Manuel Manzaneque Suarez is a single vineyard wine that hails from a plot of forty year-old Cencibel vines, cropped at only fifteen hectoliters per hectare (less than half of Chambertin!). The wine is aged for fourteen months in “one wine” French barrels prior to bottling. The 2017 is quite refined on the nose, offering up scents of cherries, a touch of dark berry, woodsmoke, a lovely base of soil, chicory and just a touch of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely sappy at the core, with good soil signature, fine-grained tannins and impressive length and grip on the complex finish. This is very good juice. 2020-2040.
Issue #86 - March/April 2020 |
|
Mil Cepas Cencibel Vino de Parcela
2019
88 (VfC)
| 88 |
View from the Cellar |
The 2019 Mil Cepas bottling from Manuel Manzaneque Suárez is also composed entirely from Tempranillo, with the wine fermented with indigenous yeasts and raised for fourteen months in used French oak barrels prior to bottling. The wine delivers a deep and complex aromatic constellation of red and black raspberries, cigar wrapper, stony soil tones, lovely spice tones, woodsmoke and cedar. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, focused and complex, with a superb core of fruit, firm, well-integrated tannins, good balance and a long, nascently complex and promising finish. This is a touch lower in octane than the !EA! bottling from 2020, coming in at 13.5 percent octane, and it will age long and gracefully. Good juice. 2031-2065.
John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023. |
|
