Cirer Obaga - Red wine from Benlloc

A single-estate wine from owned vineyards on the north-facing foothills inland from Benlloc. A fine red blending the estate's best free-run wines from 76% Merlot, 18% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Garnacha Tinta for a mature, complex, fluid expression of Mediterranean freshness over Castellón mountain and forest.

Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Garnacha Tinta from French nurseries. 2025 vintage.

Alcohol: 14.5 %

6,400 bottles.

380 to 410 m above sea level.

Red calcareous clays over marls and calcareous colluvium saturated with calcium carbonates. Well-drained, very stony soils with no irrigation.

25 years old, double Royat cordon at high density to increase root competition between vines and encourage early deepening of the root system.

Coastal Mediterranean climate inland from Benlloc. Maritime influence is felt all day, bringing a refreshing, saline, humid breeze that helps greatly during heatwaves and drought.

600 mm annually from October 2024 to September 2025.

The philosophy is to give the vineyards what they need so each season's climate plays out as a symphony, using the local tradition of plowing and tending soils in winter and spring, feeding them with goat and horse manure, iron amendments for the soil's high calcareous alkalinity, and preventive elemental sulfur to avoid powdery mildew outbreaks that can appear with humid maritime air. Harvest is by hand so vines are not damaged by the violence of a machine harvester.

Hand-picked clusters are taken to the cellar in 12 kg boxes and destemmed over the tank mouths. Grapes fall by gravity with no pumps into tanks saturated with carbon dioxide and plenty of cold to chill the fruit and wait 2 days without fermentation starting. Cold pre-fermentative maceration extracts fruity flavors and soft textures. Fermentation starts and is kept cool, up to 24 °C, to preserve aromas and slowly extract rounder, velvety tannins.

Once alcoholic fermentation is finished, the free-run wine is aged with French oak for at least 8 months. That is the secret to integrating wood quickly in this fine Castelló élevage.

In the glass, Cirer Obaga 2025 shows a deep violet-red with purple reflections. Bright and luminous.

Aromas highlight blue fruit such as currants and blueberries, with less black fruit such as blackberries and cocoa. The bouquet is wrapped in a fine, light atmosphere of medium-to-high toast French oak with smoky notes, vanilla, coconut and peaty whisky. Complex, balanced, with wood very well dosed and integrated.

On the palate it surprises with balance; humble and elegant. Tannic texture is firm but without edges thanks to harvest timing and impeccable grape health. Fluid mouthfeel with a rich attack, a full mid-palate of fruit and a long, saline finish that underlines its intensely calcareous soil.