I know I have a special wine on my hands when I’ve spent an entire day tasting through a mountain of $75-$150 Burgundies, Barolos, and Champagnes—but a mouthwateringly rustic $20 Spanish red from the Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) grape is the bottle I choose to enjoy with dinner! Of course, it’s never surprising to be impressed with the work of Alfredo Maestro.
For a generation of young sommeliers who had begun to dismiss the Ribera del Duero’s increasingly alcoholic, over-oaked wines, Alfredo has almost single-handedly returned the region’s vitality and relevance. This wine is peaking now and will offer optimal enjoyment over the next few years. Looking for the ultimate versatile red for any event of your life? This is one to drink during every season, including summer BBQs and cold winter evenings. This wine is one of Spain’s best-kept secrets.
Alfredo is perhaps the only Spanish producer whose name is equally visible on wine lists at $500/head restaurants in Copenhagen or San Francisco as it is scrawled on the chalkboard walls of a hipster wine bar in Paris or Brooklyn. The broad, global embrace of these wines is not only due to their obvious deliciousness and reasonable pricing, but also—and perhaps especially—because Alfredo is setting a new standard in the Ribera del Duero for farming organically and bottling wines in as additive-free and healthful a way as possible. Alfredo is known to say he makes wines “with only grapes, well-kept vineyards, and healthy land,” and for sommeliers and wine lovers who are looking to include a little wellness and environmentalism in their otherwise devil-may-care hedonistic lifestyles, this approach makes perfect sense.
Alfredo Maestro Tejero is one of the more focused and intense Spanish growers I’ve met. He seems completely possessed by his own curiosity about organic farming and additive-free wine. This zeal and obsessive nature is what makes Alfredo’s wines unique. He is completely content to do everything the hard way. Alfredo spends much of each day traversing steep hillsides in his beat-up Jeep where he farms some of the highest-elevation vineyards (3,000-4,000 feet) in this part of Spain. Equally zealous in his abstinence from chemicals and modern winemaking technology, Alfredo does not filter or fine his wines—and most releases don’t even see one drop of sulfites (for someone who bottles such reliably clean wines, this is an impressive accomplishment). Suffice it to say, this is as natural as winemaking gets in the Ribera del Duero and Alfredo's philosophy allows the wine to show its pure expression of place.
This wine, Alfredo’s 2015 Tinto “Viña Almate,” originates predominantly from the first vineyard he ever planted in the Ribera del Duero, almost 30 years ago. This vineyard, Almate (ALfredo MAestro TEjero—get it?), sits at 2,200 feet just outside the region’s cultural center, Peñafiel. A small amount of fruit for this wine also comes from a 3,000+-foot vineyard in neighboring Valtiendas. Both small parcels are planted exclusively to Tempranillo. After harvest and rigorous sorting by hand, juice is fermented in stainless steel tanks using 80% whole grape clusters (lending grip and energy to the wine). It is matured in neutral French oak barrels for about 4 months and bottled with the absolute minimum addition of sulfur.
Immediately identifiable as a pure and unfiltered wine, the 2015 Alfredo Maestro Tejero “Viña Almate” has a concentrated opaque dark crimson center with purple highlights throughout. This lively red displays clean aromas of ripe black cherry, black plums, red clay, dried violets, dried herbs, damp red tobacco leaf and raw cacao. The aromas coexist peacefully together atop a dense but gently mineral mid-palate where the tannins are perfectly integrated with the rich texture and perfectly mature fruit. It’s a chewy and delicious red that is defined by its unfiltered hint of rusticity and wonderful liveliness—a satisfying, thirst-quenching red for weeknight dining as well as a fit for a Saturday evening main course (ideally involving lamb). This is not a wine that demands much in terms of preparation, but I encourage you to decant it for 30-45 minutes before enjoying in a Bordeaux stem at 60-65 degrees, just above cellar temp. In my experience, Alfredo’s reds are a brilliant companion to roast lamb, as is classic in the region—but it works with just about any protein except fish. As mentioned above, this wine is peaking now and will see its best days now and over the next few years. It’s a wonderfully unpretentious, healthful, satisfying wine. You are going to love it!
