Arrocal Tinto Fino

"an excellent wine for its price point...and should age very nicely indeed." —
John Gilman, View from the Cellar
Appellation
Ribera del Duero D.O.
Grape(s)
100% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo), 20-25 year-old vines
Altitude/Soil
830 meters / alluvial sand, clay and pebbles
Farming Methods
Practicing Organic
Harvest
Hand harvested fruit
Production
Destemmed grapes were fermented with native microbes in stainless steel tanks for 10 days with skins
Aging
Aged for 9 months in three-year old French and American oak barrels
Suggested Retail Price
$20
Wine Name
Scores
Downloads
Reviews
Arrocal Tinto Fino 2017
90 (W&S) *** (WP)
Score Publication Review Copy
90 Wine & Spirits Magazine This fresh, vibrant 2017 stood above all the other wines we tasted from the vintage, a season marked by a fierce April frost and a hot, arid summer. With crops diminished, sometimes radically, producers may be releasing less young wine, or lesser young wine. This is a greater young wine: Bright, spicy and solidly built, its dark aromas shift into juicy flavors emboldened by alcohol. It’s clean, bulky and rich.
Best Buy - June 2019
*** The Washington Post Score: *** Stars (EXCEPTIONAL)
Ribera del Duero produces some terrific red wines from the tempranillo grape. Arrocal is spicy and meaty, with notes of tobacco and blueberry and a satisfying, long finish.
August 2019
Copy All Reviews
Arrocal Tinto Fino 2018
91 (VM) 90 (VfC) 88 BB (W&S)
Score Publication Review Copy
91 Vinous Media Saturated ruby. Expressive, mineral-accented aromas of ripe dark berries, candied rose and vanilla are sharpened by a peppery flourish. Gently sweet and focused in the mouth, offering juicy blueberry and cherry flavors that show an appealingly light touch. Finishes brisk and long, with lingering sweetness and supple tannins that build slowly. 80% French and 20% American oak. 2022 – 2028
Josh Raynolds - February 2021
90 View from the Cellar The 2018 Arrocal Tinto from Bodegas Arrocal is composed entirely of tempranillo and only spends eight months in cask prior to racking and bottling. The 2018 is fourteen percent octane and delivers a fine nose of black cherries, cigar smoke, gentle spice tones, a nice touch of soil, a discreet framing of oak and a bit of lavender in the upper register. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and very nicely balanced, with a good core of fruit, lovely grip and a long, classy and moderately tannic finish. This is a young wine and not overly complex today, but it is quite drinkable already and more complexity is certain to come with some bottle age. In a region with generally pretty over-heated prices, this is a fine value. 2020-2040.
Issue # 85 - January/February 2020
88 BB Wine & Spirits Magazine Open and yielding in its fruit, this has the crunch of crab apples and umeboshi plums. It’s the sour side of tempranillo, a wine for Japanese grilled duck or wagyu.
Best Buy – June 2020
Copy All Reviews
Arrocal Tinto Fino 2019
91 (WRO) 90+ (VfC) 90 (VM) 89 (WE)
Score Publication Review Copy
91 Wine Review Online This is undoubtedly one of the strongest values I’ve tasted this year, and is quite possibly the single best red wine during 2021 I’ve tasted for fewer than $20. I base that not only on its sheer deliciousness for current enjoyment but also its capacity for further development, and above all on its combination of those two virtues — a combination of virtues usually found only in notably more expensive wines. This is meaty, muscular Tempranillo (with little dashes of 2 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 1 percent Merlot), and though you will agree immediately with my descriptors when you taste the wine, it really isn’t heavy despite its muscularity and intensity of flavor. Dark cherry and blackberry fruit is in the driver’s seat, with spicy backnotes and some savory accents and plenty of fine-grained tannin that is outrun by the fruit in the wine’s finish. There’s almost no sensory sign of oak, except for the softening effect of oxygen exchange from used barrels — and skillful racking between them during the wine’s élevage to soften it and render it so expressive for current enjoyment only 19 months or so after the fruit was picked.
Michael Franz – May 18, 2021
90+ View from the Cellar There is a very slight change in the cépages of the Arrocal Tinto in 2019, as for the first time in my knowledge, this bottling includes two percent cabernet sauvignon and one percent merlot to go along with its tempranillo. These are thirty year-old, organically-farmed vines and the wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts. Since the 2016 vintage, this wine has been raised entirely in used barrels, of which eighty percent are French and twenty percent American oak. The 2019 Arrocal comes in listed at 14.5 percent octane and offers up lovely precision in its bouquet of plums, black cherries, cigar wrapper, a good base of soil, a hint of violet and a nice framing of smoky oak scents. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and nicely transparent for a 2019, with a fine core of fruit, ripe, buried tannins and fine length and grip on the balanced and nascently complex finish. This is a lovely wine in the making and quite light on its feet for the vintage. It is an outstanding value! 2025-2055.
John Gilman - Issue #91 / February 2021
90 Vinous Media Deep violet. Spice-accented cherry and blackberry aromas, along with hints of licorice and vanilla. Pliant and lively on the palate, offering juicy dark fruit and mocha flavors that spread out slowly with air. Closes smooth and long, with a touch of smokiness and discreet tannins. 2023-2028.
Josh Raynolds – July 6, 2021 Central Spain Additions
89 Wine Enthusiast Deep ruby to the eye, this wine has aromas of fruits of the wood, clove and hillside brush. It is juicy at first sip with a burst of cranberry and then darker fruits like cassis and blackberry enter the scene. Licorice and menthol are also at play, set into soft tannins that fade into a floral finish.
M.D. - June/July 2022
Copy All Reviews
Arrocal Tinto Fino 2020
90 (VfC) 89 (WS) 89 (WE)
Score Publication Review Copy
90 View from the Cellar The regular bottling of Tinto from Bodegas Arrocal is composed entirely from Tempranillo, with the vines ranging from twenty to twenty-five years of age. These vines sit at eight hundred and thirty meters above sea level, so there is a good diurnal temperature swing in the summer. The grapes are hand-harvested, destemmed, fermented with indigenous yeasts and the wine is aged in three-year-old French casks for nine months prior to bottling. The 2020 Arrocal comes in at fourteen percent alcohol and delivers a deep and youthful nose of cassis, cigar smoke, pretty spice tones, a good base of soil and a bit of oak. On the palate the wine is deep, young and full-bodied, with a fine core of fruit, very good focus and balance and a long, ripely tannic finish. This will need some cellaring time to blossom, but the constituent components here are excellent. 2027-2050+.
John Gilman - Issue #98 March/April 2022
89 Wine Spectator A balanced, medium-bodied red, with macerated and candied cherry notes enlivened by tangy orange peel acidity. Reveals light, supple tannins and accents of dried lavender, black tea leaf and red licorice. Drink now through 2025. 8,333 cases made, 1,500 cases imported.
Wine Spectator - Oct.15, 2022
89 Wine Enthusiast Dark ruby to the eye, this wine has a bouquet of blackberry preserves, butterscotch and thyme. There is a nice savory dried herb note on the palate, alongside flavors of cherry, black currant, orange zest and eucalyptus. Satiny tannins make way for a fruit and mint finish. Best Buy.
—Mike Desimone. February/March 2023
Copy All Reviews
Arrocal Tinto Fino 2021
94 (VfC) 91 (VfC) 90 (OB)
Score Publication Review Copy
94 View from the Cellar Bodegas Arrocal’s Selección Especial hails from slightly higher elevation vineyards, sitting at eight hundred and fifty-five meters, with these vines having been planted in 1985. They are farmed organically and the wine is fermented with native yeasts, prior to being aged for eighteen months in cask, with half of the barrels new each year. The wine is a touch riper than the 2021 Crianza, coming in at 14.5 percent octane and revealing a superb aromatic constellation of black cherries, black plums, cigar wrapper, complex chalky soil tones, a touch of hazelnut, bitter chocolate, a lovely framing of nutty new oak and a smoky topnote. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a rock solid core of fruit, lovely soil undertow, ripe tannins and impeccable balance on the long, poised and seamless young finish. Fine, fine juice. 2035- 2075+.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024
91 View from the Cellar I love the wines from Bodegas Arrocal, as their vines are in the higher altitude village of Gumiel de Mercado, where diurnal temperature swings produce more refined wines than in much hotter sections of Ribera de Duero, such as around Valladolid. The 2021 Tinto Fino from Bodegas Arrocal is crafted solely from tempranillo, with the organically farmed vines between twenty and twenty-five years of age. The wine is raised in three-year-old French and American oak barrels for ten months prior to bottling, with the 2021 version coming in at an even fourteen percent. The wine’s bouquet is lovely, wafting from the glass in a mix of black cherries, dark berries, cigar wrapper, a touch of clove, woodsmoke, dark soil tones and a nice light touch of cedary oak from the older casks. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and complex, with a good core of ripe fruit, fine soil signature, ripe, chewy tannins and a long, vibrant and nascently complex finish. This is a young wine and will demand some bottle age to soften up its backend tannin, but it is going to be excellent and is an extraordinary value! 2029-2065.
John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023.
90 OwenBargreen.com 2021 Bodegas Arrocal Ribera del Duero- The 2021 Bodegas Arrocal Ribera del Duero comes from slightly younger vines on the estate, as this was stored for nine months in a combination of older French and American oak barrels. This shows good poise and freshness on the mouth, with black cherry and coffee ground flavors alongside toasty oak and suggestions of tilled soils. Drink 2023-2029-
Owen Bargreen - October, 2023
Copy All Reviews
Arrocal Tinto Fino 2022
91 (VfC)
Score Publication Review Copy
91 View from the Cellar The regular bottling of Tinto Fino from Bodegas Arrocal is the estate’s young vine cuvée, as these vines are around twenty-five years of age, planted at an elevation of eight hundred and thirty meters above sea level. The wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and then aged in three year-old French and American oak barrels for six months prior to bottling. The 2022 version is relatively low octane for Ribera del Duero, coming in at an even fourteen percent alcohol and delivering a lovely, deep bouquet of dark berries, black plums, coffee bean, cigar wrapper, dark soil tones and just a touch of oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and structured, with a firm chassis of ripe tannin, a great core of fruit, good soil undertow and grip and a long, promising and very well balanced finish. Despite this being the entry level wine from Bodegas Arrocal, it is built for the cellar and will need some time to blossom. But, it is going to be excellent once it is ready to drink. This is an outstanding value! 2030-2055+.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024
Copy All Reviews

Share this wine

Rate this wine

Have you tasted this wine?
Feel free to add your notes and rating.

Vivino Delectable Cellar Tracker