Casa Lebai Matadiablos

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Quote Author
Winery
Appellation
Ribera del Duero D.O.
Grape(s)
100% Tinto Fino, 26 years old vines
Altitude/Soil
826 meters / loam - clay soils
Farming Methods
Practicing Organic
Harvest
Hand harvested in 16 Kg boxes
Production
Fermented in small stainless steel tanks
Aging
Aged for 12 months in 3,000 L French oak Foudres
Suggested Retail Price
$65
Wine Name
Scores
Downloads
Reviews
Casa Lebai Matadiablos 2019
95 (WRO) 95 (TA) 94 (OB) 92 (VfC) 92 (RP)
Score Publication Review Copy
95 Wine Review Online This wine by Rodrigo and Asier Calvo (with consultation from Isaac Fernández) is something of a project-within-a-project of the family’s outstanding winery, Bodegas Arrocal, made within the Arrocal facility along with a very promising white made from the local Albillo Mayor. My recollection from a site visit in March of 2022 is that the entire production issues from a single 3,000-liter French oak Foudre. When I tasted it recently alongside an extremely expensive wine of a roughly similar type (also made entirely from Tempranillo or — as it is called locally — Tinto Fino), this initially showed a distracting herbal or dry straw note in aromatic terms, but that diminished with airing, and was entirely absent when I re-tasted the wine 24 hours later. That’s is a non-issue in retrospect, as this is a very high-quality wine that merits cellaring even though it doesn’t need more time to be enjoyed (but give it a vigorous decanting if you choose to dig in early on). The bouquet is delicate but still intricate, with faint floral and spice notes atop a core of beautifully pure fruit that seems mostly red in tone but with some black accents as well. These notes echo in the wine’s flavors, with darker fruit tones coming to the fore before a persistent and impressively symmetrical finish, with very fine tannins providing just a tug of textural grip to firm up the fruit’s sweetness, which is also enlivened with well-integrated acidity. Once fully aerated, this proved to be a very stylish and beautiful wine, one that was clearly not crafted to chase “powerhouse” counterparts from the region based on dense fruit and intense oak, but rather with a view to purity and poise. The price is more than fair in view of the quality here.
Michael Franz – September 12, 2023
95 Tim Atkin MW A great name - devil killer - and an equally impressive wine, this medium-bodied Tinto Fino comes from an 82-year-old parcel of the same name in Gumiel de Mercado. You can taste the cooler climate of the higher part of Burgos in the grapes here, with very nuanced oak from ageing in foudres, smooth, granular tannins, lots of zip and acidity and crunchy red cherry and bramble fruit. 2024-30 .
Tim Atkins. Published 2022
94 OwenBargreen.com 2019 Casa Labai Matadiablos- This 2019 Ribera del Duero was sourced from 26 year old vines set on loamy clay soils and was then stored for 12 months in large French oak barrels prior to bottling. Very dark in the glass, the 2019 Casa Labai shows off loads of dark fruits on the nose with espresso bean, black forest cake and suggestions of cardamom spice. The palate is plush and smooth throughout the drinking experience, with no rough edges. Finishing long, this round and generous wine is already taking beautiful shape at the four year mark. Drink 2023-2040-
Owen Bargreen - October, 2023
92 View from the Cellar Casa Lebai is located in the higher elevation town of Gumiel de Mercado and these vines are planted at 826 meters above sea level. The wine is made entirely from tempranillo, from twenty-six year-old vines and the wine is raised entirely in three thousand liter French oak foudres for one year prior to bottling. The 2019 is the first release of this wine, which comes in at 13.5 percent octane and delivers a fine, youthful bouquet of black cherries, raspberries, gentle spice tones, cigar smoke, lovely soil tones and spicy oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied, focused and nicely soil-driven in personality, with a chassis of firm tannin, good balance and grip and a long, nascently complex finish. This is an excellent first wine from the estate. It needs time to soften up its tannins, as I assume that the foudres were new oak in 2019, given that this is the winery’s first vintage. But, it will be a fine bottle once it is ready to drink. 2031-2075+.
John Gilman - Issue #103 January/February 2023.
92 The Wine Advocate The red 2019 Matadiablos was produced from Tempranillo grapes from one 2.61-hectare vineyard planted in 1997 by the cousin of their father with material from an old El Portillo vineyard. The grapes fermented in a 5,000-liter oak vat with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in a 3,000-liter oak vat for one year to preserve the character of the soil and avoid too much oak. It has a complex and different nose with abundant herbal notes, hints of wild berries and tons of licorice. It's medium-bodied, with contained ripeness and 13.5% alcohol, fine tannins and lively acidity with an herbal, acid berry and slightly bitter finish. 4,000 bottles were filled in November 2020. Drink 2023-2028
92 points Luis Gutierrez – The Wine Advocate Issue# January 2023
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Casa Lebai Matadiablos 2020
95 (WE) 95 (WRO) 94 (OB) 93 (VfC)
Score Publication Review Copy
95 Wine Enthusiast Casa Lebai 2020 Matadiablos (Ribera del Duero). Aromas of blackberry, dried thyme and a hint of leather pave the way for cassis, cara- mel, milk chocolate and lavender flavors. Silky tan- nins coat the tongue and gums and drop off to reveal a touch of earthiness in the smooth finish. Drink through 2032. Cellar Selection.
Mike DeSimone - Issue August - September 2024
95 Wine Review Online This wine is a labor of love made by brothers Rodrigo and Aiser Calvo, who are also instrumental in the production of broader set of family wines of Bodegas Arrocal, which are worthy of the attention of everyone. The label pays homage to the village in which the family winery is located—Gumiel de Mercado—and also to the earlier generations of vintners who worked the land (mostly for household consumption or sale to co-ops in earlier decades). The fruit source is a high-elevation vineyard with mature vines of 26+ years, which would be considered “old vines” in any country other than Spain. The growing site faces north, which of course means less sun exposure in the Northern Hemisphere, and the wine is aged in 3,000-liter French oak foudres, as opposed to the barriques that are so common in the immediate region and all of central/northern Spain. Consequently, this must be regarded as a very intentionally made wine, and the intentions pay off very handsomely. Moderate in ripeness and resulting alcohol, with some spice notes but much less overt wood influence (and wood tannin) than is the norm in Ribera del Duero, this is an alluring wine that is already thoroughly enjoyable even though it will develop positively for another two decades. The fruit tones are mostly black but also red, with Bing cherries and blackberries coming first to mind by analogy, with savory undertones of spices and light-roasted coffee showing as well. Tannins are abundant but fine-grained and ripe, making this a food wine in the near term but not a confining one, as this would get along very nicely with a roasted duck or even a chicken with a creamy mushroom sauce. I love Tempranillo from this region—where it is simply known as Tinto Fino—and I am having trouble thinking of a wine that offers a more seductive introduction to the breed than this one.
Michael Franz, November 27th 2024.
94 OwenBargreen.com 2020 Casa Labai Matadiablos- A gorgeous wine from Ribera del Duero , the 2020 Casa Lbai Metadiablos comes from nearly 30 year old vines and was stored in French oak for 12 months before bottling. The palate is smooth and plush with refined tannins and a gorgeous core of black fruits, with baking spices, Turkish coffee and a graphite edge. Delicious now, watch this evolve over the next fifteen years. Drink 2024-2040-
Owen Bargreen - November 18, 2024
93 View from the Cellar As I mentioned last year, Casa Lebai is located in the higher elevation town of Gumiel de Mercado (where Goya Garcia is also based) and their vineyards are planted at 826 meters above sea level. The higher elevation allows for better diurnal temperature swings and helps to mitigate some of the heat of Ribera del Duero. The wine is raised in large foudres for twelve months, rather than the more typical smaller, new Bordeaux casks used by so many producers in the region. The 2020 Matadiablos is again fairly moderate in octane for Ribera del Duero, coming in at 13.5 percent in this vintage. The bouquet is deep and youthfully complex, offering up scents of black raspberries, lovely tempranillo spice tones, cigar wrapper, a fine base of chalky soil tones, coffee bean and just a whisper of cedary oak from the foudres. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and focused, with lovely depth at the core, excellent soil signature and grip, tangy acids, fine-grained tannins and a long, well-balanced and very promising finish. This is fine, fine juice in the making. 2034-2075.
John Gilman; Issue 109, January – February 2024
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Casa Lebai Matadiablos 2021
95 (TA) 94 (JS) 93 (VfC) 93 (RP)
Score Publication Review Copy
95 Tim Atkin MW Casa Lebai Matadiablos 2021 Cosecha (13.5%) Matadiablos comes from a cool, north-facing parcel within the Paraje de Aguachar in Gumiel de Mercado that was planted with a massal selection from La Nava and El Portillo in 1997. Fermented in open lagars in a semi carbonic maceration style, it's vibrant, ethereal and energetic, with haunting goji berry and pomegranate flavours and hints of clove and tobacco leaf. Deliciously drinkable. 2025-38.
Tim Atkins MW
94 JamesSuckling.com This has a complex nose of blueberries, dried raspberries, licorice and hints of asphalt. The palate is sleek, with delicate, polished tannins, a medium to full body and the enveloping satiny sensation that makes great Riberas. This comes from a pure tempranillo headtrained, north-facing vineyard planted in 1997 at 820 meters in the village of Gumiel de Mercado. A lovely and restrained expression of tempranillo. Drink now or hold.
June 2024
93 View from the Cellar As I have mentioned in the past,. Casa Lebai is located in the higher altitude village of Gumiel de Mercado, where diurnal temperature swings keep the vines a bit cooler than in the lower altitude areas of Ribera del Duero. The vines for the Matadiablos bottling were planted in 1997, so they are just coming into their prime now. The wine is fermented in stainless steel and then aged in three thousand liter foudres prior to bottling, and then given an additional year of bottle aging in the cellars prior to release. The wine comes in at 13.5 percent octane in this vintage and offers up a lovely young nose of black cherries, plums, cigar wrapper, chalky soil tones, a nice touch of tempranillo spice tones, woodsmoke and just a touch of cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, fullbodied and beautifully structured, with fine focus and grip, a superb core of fruit, good soil 67 undertow, ripe, buried tannins and a long, complex and well balanced finish. This will be a superb wine once it is ready to drink, but give it time to properly soften up its tannins! 2034-2075.
John Gilman; March – April 2024, Issue 110.
93 The Wine Advocate The red 2021 Matadiablos follows the path of the initial 2019 with the advantage of their accumulated experience and a cooler and more balanced year. It was produced with Tempranillo from 2.6 hectares of vines planted in 1997, their youngest vineyard, at 826 meters above sea level and currently being converted to organic farming. It was vinified and aged like yesteryear, looking for fine-boned wines with contained ripeness (this has 13.5% alcohol in a vintage when the grapes ripened thoroughly) through earlier picking and trying to keep the natural freshness and acidity. The grapes were foot trodden in a vat with malolactic in 500-liter barrels and oak vats and aging for 11 months in two 3,000-liter oak vats. 7,900 b ottles produced. It was bottled in September 2022. 2024 - 2032.
Luis Gutierrez – The Wine Advocate; June 13, 2024.
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