Artadi Pagos Viejos 2003

Artadi's flagship from a scorching 2003 harvest. Dark raspberry, licorice and dried fig on the nose, heady, sun-baked, a touch exotic. On the palate, the fruit is lavish and forward, edging toward overripe richness, but new French oak reins things in and lends enough structure to keep it coherent. This isn't a wine to squirrel away, the tannins are plush and accommodating, the fruit too exuberant for the long haul. As a pure, concentrated expression of heat-year Tempranillo, though, it delivers. Drink up.