El Olmar 2023 Bendito Destino

Professional reviews

Robert Parker (95)

Terry Kandylis insisted that we should taste the 2023 El Olmar, which I already tasted last year, next to the 2023 San Roque. It was sourced from two plots in the valley that names the wine. Located in their village of Canalejas de Peñafiel and planted with the usual field blend—Tinto Fino, Garnacha, Valenciano (Bobal), Pirulés, Alarije and Albillo Mayor—in the old vineyards in the zone, with an east-facing position, they are some of the first plots to be harvested. The grapes were hand-destemmed, and some 45% of the stems made it into the concrete eggs, where the wine fermented with indigenous yeasts and had a maceration of 21 days. The wine matured in two used Taransaud barrels for 16 months. It has notes of aromatic herbs—thyme, rosemary, oregano—and is a little earthy. This has a little more weight and body but with a similar effect of the Garnacha in the wine, lending it that beautiful note of blood orange. But this is more complex and has more and finer tannins. It has 12.3% alcohol, a pH of 3.76 and four grams of acidity. 569 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2025.