This is the finest collection of wines I have ever tasted from Comando G, each of them with a different personality, more and more evident each year.
Luis Gutiérrez
2021 Rozas 1er Cru, Comando G
£230 per 6 bottle case in bond
I still remember tasting the 2018 Rozas 1er Cru from Comando G, home alone in July 2020, and the revelation that it was. The pale colour, the haunting aromatics and subtly elegant yet fruit-packed palate, the astonishing mineral length. It was absolutely breathtaking. Earlier this week I was poured a glass of the 2021 vintage and it all came flooding back; not so surprising given that the 2021 vintage is another cooler vintage like the 2018.
Comando G is widely regarded as the driving force behind the emergence of the Sierra de Gredos as a source of brilliant Garnacha from very old vines. They have twenty hectares near the village of Rozas de Puerto Real in the Sierra de Gredos west of Madrid, with 40-50 different parcels identified and fermented separately. The Rozas 1er Cru comes from six different plots in vineyards at 900 metres altitude. As in so many instances around the world, altitude is responsible for the beautiful freshness so evident in this wine. The altitude also allows for a longer, slower ripening of the fruit and an increased complexity. The 1er Cru and named single vineyards are managed biodynamically. There is no destemming of the fruit. Extractions are very gentle and can be very long (up to 70 days for some single vineyard wines). Ageing is in larger wooden barrels of 500-700 litres. Everything is done with the goal of allowing this unique terroir to shine.
2021 Rozas 1er Cru, Comando G, Sierra de Gredos
£230 per 6 bottle case in bond
95 points, Luis Gutiérrez, robertparker.com, December 2023
The last vintage of the Rozas 1er Cru as it is now is the 2021, because the wine changes in 2022. The 2021 Rozas 1er Cru, a lieu-dit red from the village of Rozas de Puerto Real, is from the same plots as in previous years but cropped from a cool year. They used full clusters with long macerations, an infusion, and it aged in large oak foudres for one year. It's a serious, austere and cold vintage for this wine, which is narrow, mineral and sharp but with full development of flavors, as they picked the grapes at very good ripeness, and the wine finished with 14% alcohol. With time in the glass, it developed some Rhône-ish meaty notes. It has very fine and elegant tannins, rounder than those in warmer years. It feels superb. 14,761 bottles produced. It was bottled in February 2023. Drink 2024-2032
As with the 2018 vintage, fruit and mineral energy shine through in the 2021 Rozas 1er Cru. The nose shows pure red and darker berry fruit but there is a subtle, ethereal nature to the aromatics. The intensity builds in the glass with scented red fruit, remarkable purity and concentration, ripe yet fresh. The wine glides across the palate with a clean, pure red fruit vibrancy and finishes long with a freshness and a taut, mineral persistence.
This is such a magnificent wine, and one that can be enjoyed from now.
