Domaines Lupier, 'La Dama', Navarra, Spain, 2018 (Raúl Pérez)

Overview of the Wine
Founded by native Pamplonans Enrique Basarte and Elisa Ucar in the mid-2000s as a vehicle for preserving Navarra’s patrimony of old-vine Garnacha in the zone of San Martín de Unx, Domaine Lupier has been quietly building its reputation in Spain as a leading source of expressively floral, juicy and succulent Garnacha—in a word, ‘Atlantic’. This seventeen-hectare domaine, the majority of whose vines date to 1903, has now truly met its match in Raúl Pérez, whose ongoing search for a prime estate source of Garnacha ended here last year with his acquisition of the property. Thanks to their privileged position as the national importer for Raúl’s home estate in Bierzo, Skurnik Wines is excited to introduce Domaines Lupier to a wider audience! Extending over a number of different parcels varying in altitude from about 400m ASL to 750m over a basic substrate of clay-limestone, the estate boasts what are thought to be the oldest vines in the ground in the village of San Martín de Unx. While not certified, the 100% head-pruned and dry-farmed bushvines are farmed in emphatically organic fashion, producing beautifully ripe and healthy but balanced and crunchy fruit. There are two cuvées produced—‘El Terroir’, the delicious estate blend, and ‘La Dama’, a showstopping single-parcel bottling from the highest altitudes of the estate. Both wines are fermented in a combination of tank and open-top barrel with some stem inclusion, and see elevage in a range of larger French barrels from 400 to 1500 liters, with about 10% of the cooperage new per year.

Natural and Organic.

Grape / Blend
Grenache

Origin
Navarra, Spain

Winemaker: Raúl Pérez 

Winemaker's Tasting Notes
Hugely aromatic nose (think violets) beckons the first sip, where the drinker will find a seamless and complex experience ranging from purple-tinged red fruits to nutmeg and cinnamon. Supremely balanced expression of the Garnacha variety that invites comparisons to the very best examples of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

97 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
No 2017 was produced, so after the 2016 I tasted a while ago, we jump to the 2018 La Dama, vinified by Enrique Basarte and Elisa Ucar and blended and bottled by Raul Perez, the new owner of the project. They always look for a more delicate expression of Garnacha from selected stonier plots of old head-pruned and dry-farmed vines in the village of San Martin de Unx that are worked organically and biodynamically but are not certified. The wine is stunning, elegant and aromatic, with depth, complexity and grip. It's incredibly young and expressive and doesn't show its age at all; it has a refined nose and is quite fruit-driven and floral, with very integrated oak (like never before), supple flavors and very fine tannins. It has good ripeness and contained alcohol and good freshness and acidity (with a pH of 3.46 and 6.3 grams of tartaric).

Product size: 750ml