Event

 Bodegas  Convento de Las Claras 

"Las Claras"   

100% Tinto Fino 

(Tempranillo)

Ribera Del Duero,

Castilla Leon, Spain

2012

Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) means "little early one" a name given to it by Spanish growers who observed its habit of ripening earlier than the other regional red varietals. 

Here I am holding a bottle of the Las Claras with Winemaker/Owner Jose´ Carlos Alvarez after an incredible portfolio tasting and lunch!

Yes, the Bodega Las  Claras winery is a converted convent next to the river in Peñafiel, the nuns use to care for the vines!

90 Points!

Robert Parker The Wine Advocate

 "The 2012 Las Claras is a single vineyard Ribera del Duero aged eight months in new French oak. Its dense ruby/purple color is followed by a layered nose of black raspberries, blackberries, licorice, graphite and spice box. Rich and full-bodied with sweet, velvety tannins and a heady, layered finish, this seductive red should drink well for 5-7 years.” RP 

 Regularly $21.99

Special Sale Price Only 

$14.50
a bottle and if you buy

6 or more bottles

      the price drops to  
 $12.00

That's 45% off!!!!

Don’t want to miss the sale?

Can’t make it Thursday?

Click here or call us NOW, as

quantities are limited, so with

that said, first come first served!

703-668-WINE (9463)

Our Thoughts on this wine.....

Ripe cherry in the glass, with strong purple hues. The nose has a very high intensity of fruit of blackberries, raspberries, and a hint of black licorice, which are combined with toasted and spicy flavors typical of aging in French oak. Its entrance is lush and dense. Its balanced acidity, soft tannins and long aftertaste shows fruity and spicy notes.

Jorge Ordonez: America’s First Revolutionary Spanish Importer

by Robert Parker

Jorge Ordoñez, whom I first met about ten years after I began publishing The Wine Advocate, is celebrating the 25th anniversary of his import company in 2012. It is no exaggeration to say that Jorge Ordoñez is the reference point for some of the finest wines emerging from Spain. He has also built a tremendous portfolio of value-priced wines, as he was the first importer to recognize the high quality wines coming from Jumilla as well as Campo de Borja. Anyone who has ever tasted alongside Jorge understands that he is a perfectionist, insisting on proper temperature and glassware. It is not unusual for him to go through two or three bottles of the same wine until he finds one he believes is representative. Everything he imports is shipped in reefer temperature-controlled containers, and stocked in refrigerated warehouses, both on the Spanish side in Bilbao, and in the United States. Jorge told me that in 2011, they used over 500 thermo recorders embedded in shipments to track the temperature of all his wines, from the winery to the ultimate distributor in the United States and abroad.

 Being the obsessive perfectionist that he is, Jorge Ordoñez can sometimes annoy people, and he seems to have no shortage of competitors who are clearly jealous of his great success. However, as always, the proof is in the bottle, and as readers will see in the report that follows, Jorge Ordoñez has a remarkable portfolio of tremendous wine values. I hope I have done justice to them. Certainly, one could say that Jorge Ordoñez is a gift from Bacchus to thrifty wine consumers.

The Jorge Ordonez biography:

The state of Spanish wine in the United States in 1987, when Jorge arrived, was bleak, epitomized mostly by cheap sherry and tired Rioja gathering dust on wine shops’ lower shelves. Having grown up in a family wine distribution business in Malaga, Spain, Ordonez knew the ins and outs of the wine business-from loading trucks to evaluating barrel samples to making deals. He quickly recognized the potential for Spanish wine in America for what it was. But in order for his vision to succeed, changes had to occur on both sides of the Atlantic.

On the American side, a lifetime’s worth of misperception had to be overturned. The conventional wisdom had it that Spanish was pale, flat, low quality, funky and cheap. Ordonez knew that some of this resulted from factors external to the wines, such as poor storage and transport conditions and inept marketing. He revered the wines of his homeland and was one of the few to recognize the vast international potential of its old vines and dry-farmed vineyards. But, seeing the trends toward modernity in other countries, he also recognized that Spanish winemaking itself needed revitalization: some traditional methods needed updating, yields needed to be lowered, cleanliness promoted. Ordonez’s modus operandi was to preserve the wines’ heritage and Spanish character while coaxing them into line with the late 20th century palate. There was risk involved. Instead of pandering to internationalist trends, Ordonez took the bold step of challenging the American palate by being the first to introduce exotic wines like Albarino, Txakoli and Godello to a market that knew little more than sangria.

Ordonez became known as an obsessive crusader for the careful handling of wine. Likewise, he brazenly demanded major improvements in the method of transporting and storing the wine before it reached the consumer. To that end, Fine Estates From Spain was the first company to have a refrigerated warehouse in Spain and refrigerated shipping and proper storage from wineries, transporters and merchants. An uphill battle for a decade before the market perception slowly began to change, it wasn’t until the late 1990’s that Spanish wines were finally recognized as a top quality product. Yet even as Americans were just becoming aware of names like Ribera del Duero and Rias Biaxas, Ordonez was already pioneering in new areas where potential was vast but winemaking tradition was rustic. In unheralded regions like Jumilla, Calatayud and Montsant, Ordonez partnered with his most talented winemaking partners to create new wines where none existed, wines infused with Spanish spirit and terroir, yet firmly in line with modern taste sensibilities. And ultimately that has become the new perception of Spanish wine-authentic yet modern. In creating a market for Spanish wine where once there was none, and in helping Spanish winegrowers believe that their wines deserve a place alongside the greatest wines of Europe and America.

Jorge has quite a list of achievements; twice names one of 20 wine personality of the year by Robert Parker he was awarded the Golden Grape Award in 1997 from Food and Wine Magazine and in Spain he was given the Premier de Nacional de Gastronomia de Victor de la Serna by the Academia Espanola in 1997 as well. In 2008 Jorge was named the Luminary of the Year at the Nantucket Wine Festival, the first time ever the honor was bestowed.

 We will be featuring the wines of Jorge Ordonez all month so stay tuned!