PORTIA PRIMA LA ENCINA 2018 | RIBERA DEL DUERO | 97 DECANTER

From Portia’s Finca La Encina, in Gumiel del Mercado, northeast of La Horra, this is a powerfully concentrated Ribera. It rested 15 months in French oak barrels while Portia’s Crianza, also recommended here, spent ten months in French oak and three in American.

Stylistically, they are polar opposites. Prima shows its oak influence in chocolate-brownie richness and lasting vanilla scents. The fruit needs bottle age to absorb that oak, but the fruit itself is rich and substantial, with black-cherry and anise scents and mineral-tinged fruit-skin tannins. A modern Ribera to cellar three to five years. Reviewed by Joshua Greene.