2014 Senorio de Barahonda Campo Arriba Old Vines 750 ml

Dead-Ringer For Châteauneuf

The top-notch bodega established by Antonio Candela’s family in 1925 is increasingly considered Spain’s strongest competitor to France’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In the 2014 growing season, sensational in both Yecla and Jumilla, Candela and consulting winemaker Araceli Gonzalez turned out one of the most magnificent blends ever grown on this historic property. This 2014 Campo Arriba is a drop-dead lookalike for a top-notch Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Parker called it “an amazing value” at a price that’s “absurdly low for a wine of this quality,” in his 93-point review. $25 on release. Just $17.99 per bottle a MUST-CASE-purchase for bargain hunters and southern Rhône enthusiasts.

If you’re like us, and thought you knew everything there is to know about Europe’s most illustrious wine routes, think again. Never in our 30 years in the wine business had we been to Yecla, one of Spain’s smallest appellations. Suffice it to say that our first visit to Señorio de Barahonda hasn’t been our last.

Yecla is sandwiched between the better-known regions of Jumilla and Almansa in the southeastern part of the country. Both the city and its vineyards are surrounded by a series of low but majestic mountain ranges, helping to moderate temperatures in this unique microclimate.

The growers here are notoriously proud of their heritage. It wasn’t long after we entered Yecla’s most critically acclaimed cellar that we were treated to a history lesson that much explains the richness, voluptuousness, and mineral complexity of these sensational old-vine reds.

From the 11th to the 13th century, Yecla was known as Yakka during the Moorish occupation, but its winegrowing history goes back almost another thousand years. Some claim that the ancient Phoenicians were the first to plant wine grapes here, and archaeologists have uncovered ruins of a first-century wine cellar near Fuente del Pinar.

The vineyards are planted on rolling hills that range from 1,500 to 2,500 feet in altitude. While the climate is generally quite dry — on average just 12 inches of rainfall each year — as we saw on day two of our visit, when it rains, it POURS. In a dramatic, fast-forward storm scene we’re more used to seeing in Sedona, Arizona, than southern Spain, a perfectly sunny day turned dark and ominous as black clouds raced in over the mountains. The first burst of thunder was deafening, followed by torrential rain. An hour later, the clouds were gone and the sun was shining again — as if the storm had never happened!

The top-notch bodega established by Antonio Candela’s family in 1925 is increasingly considered Spain’s strongest competitor to France’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Candela’s head-trained Mourvèdre vines, planted in the 1940s and farmed organically, eke out just 4.4 pounds of fruit per plant of small-berry clusters of massive natural concentration.

The more we trekked the vines of Señorio de Barahonda, the more the comparison to Châteauneuf rang true. The limestone, clay, and chalk soils are deep and well-draining. Roots burrow meters into the substrata, allowing the vines to quench their thirst on underground water reserves during the dry summer months.

In the 2014 growing season, sensational in both Yecla and Jumilla, Candela and consulting winemaker Araceli Gonzalez turned out one of the most magnificent blends ever grown on this historic property. Parker called it “an amazing value” at a price that’s “absurdly low for a wine of this quality,” in his 93-point review. This is a clear case buy for bargain hunters and southern Rhône enthusiasts.

Jonathan Cristaldi

Editor-in-Chief, Wine Access