Aalto

Ribera del Duero, 2017

Name: Ribera del Duero
Brand: Aalto
Price: 91.7 GBP

94/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

93/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2005 2009 2012 2014 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

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in bond

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Last Few
2017
1x1.5L
DP
£91.70

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

High-toned, primary fruit laced with violet and blackberries wafts from the glass, accompanied by succulent strawberries, black raspberries and supporting notes of vanilla and clove spices. Comforting and silky but at the same time fresh, concentrated without feeling dense, the 2017 at this early stage emphasises beautifully detailed fruit rather than oak, with velvety present tannins. Surely one of the standouts of this troublesome vintage. Production was clipped by approximately 60% thanks to hard spring frosts and then a dry growing season but quality does not appear to be impacted. In fact this will drink earlier than some of the more blockbuster years such as 2015, 2016 and 2010. Aged for 16 months in 50% new barriques.

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

93/100

Josh Raynolds,

Vinous

Opaque ruby. An expressive bouquet evokes ripe red and dark berries, licorice, mocha and woodsmoke, and a spicy note builds in the glass. Juicy and energetic on the palate, offering appealingly sweet blackberry, cherry cola and lavender pastille flavors that are sharpened by a peppery nuance. Smooth tannins come in late on a long, dark-fruit-driven finish, which leaves a subtle touch of vanilla behind.

drinking window 2023 - 2031

date of review 02/2021

94/100

Luis Gutierrez,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The 2017 Aalto was a surprise for the vintage. They had to select the grapes from their own vineyards, and they produced less wine. It feels a little lighter and fresher, more approachable at this point in time. The oak also seems to be more integrated. It's a very drinkable Aalto in its style. They only used some 20% new oak and possibly did a softer vinification. It's approachable now, but it should also develop nicely in bottle, as the year had more acidity. 220,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2019.

drinking window 2020 - 2025

date of review 12/2019

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Specifications

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abv:

14.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.