2019 was a warm year of powerful wines, and the 2019 La Plazuela shows it. That year, it was a blend of 60% Cencibel and 40% Garnacha Tintorera (Alicante Bouschet), with 15% alcohol and mellow acidity, with the lovely rusticity this wine shows, earthy and a bit spirity. The palate is full bodied, but the tannins have been resolved and give it a velvety texture with a chalky and tasty finish. 6,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in January 2023 after it spent one year in concrete, 18 months in French oak and the rest of time in tinaja until bottling.

2018 was clearly a great vintage for Más Que Vinos, with some of the best wines they have produced since they started in 1999. That is the case for the 2018 La Plazuela, the finest Cencibel I know, complemented with 20% Garnacha Tintorera (all organic and certified), which produces a characterful wine with lovely chalky rusticity and an explosive and powerful personality at 15% alcohol. It fermented in a small stainless steel vat with indigenous yeasts and then was transferred to a tinaja for malolactic, where it matured for one year followed by 18 months in French oak barrels and then was put back into the tinaja until bottling. This is a wine that reflects the sun and the countryside of La Mancha like few others. Bravo! 4,000 bottles were filled in January 2021.

Always one of the finest reds from central Spain, the 2015 La Plazuela was produced with organically farmed Cencibel and 20% Garnacha Tintorera from old, dry-farmed and head-pruned vines on limestone soils. It fermented in small stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts followed by natural malolactic in clay pots, then it spent one year in concrete, 18 months in French barriques and then back again to the clay until bottling. This wine took a more elegant profile with the 2014 vintage, and this 2015 follows that elegant path but keeps its personality, with a rustic touch but also with elegance and really well integrated oak. It's still young and felt lively, and the palate revealed a lot of power. This is a superb red that showcases the spirit of La Mancha in one of its finest vintages. 6,000 bottles were filled in January 2018.

We have jumped a few years to get to the 2014 La Plazuela, which is one of my favorite wines from La Mancha (even if it's sold with the VdT Castilla appellation). They did not release 2012 or 2013, as they only release this wine in very good vintages. It's now a blend of Cencibel with 20% Garnacha Tintorera from low-yielding, old vines on limestone soils. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts, then it was transferred to amphorae for malolactic. It aged for one year in concrete vats followed by 18 months in French oak barrels. There is a lot less influence from the élevage than in previous vintages—they have increased the volume of the barrels, there is more used oak and they believe the time the wine spends in the old "tinajas" (large earthenware jars), where the wine gets polished, also helps to achieve a wine with less influence from wood. The nose is straight, quite aromatic and ever changing in the glass, developing nuances as time passes and clearly marked by the special Garnacha Tintorera they have (which is also present in the La Madre and the new Ercavio Tempranillo-Garnacha red), with that stony/mineral sensation providing hints of flint stone and silex. There are fine-grained, dusty tannins and good balance, but there is also power. This feels more elegant than previous vintages. 6,000 bottles were filled in April 2017.

Widely considered the best red from La Mancha, the 2011 La Plazuela is a blend of Cencibel (the local strain of Tempranillo) and 20% Garnacha Tintorera (aka Alicante Bouschet); the grapes are sourced from dry farmed, head-pruned old vineyards on chalk-rich soils and fermented with indigenous yeasts in a small stainless steel vat. The aging is quite convoluted, one year in cement vats (really old 'tinajas' or 'conos'—what we'll call amphora now), where it goes through malolactic fermentation, then 18 months in French oak barriques; after that, it goes back to the cement for settling down before bottling some four years after the harvest. The nose is really different from its siblings with some mineral, diesel-like aromas, hints of iodine intermixed with sweet spices and a creaminess from the oak. The palate is medium-bodied, with abundant, very fine tannins, with great concentration and power without a hint of aggressiveness. This is a wine with stuffing and balance, as well as good acidity. Very tasty and fresh, it slowly develops notes of licorice. It could very well be the best vintage of La Plazuela so far. I wish there were more wines like this in La Mancha. This is a red for the long haul, so the oakiness (which is significantly lower than in previous vintages anyway) does not bother me much, as the wine has enough stuffing to absorb it. So if you don't like oaky reds, leave it alone for five years, as it has all that it takes to make old bones. In any case, this wine will not be launched until the end of 2016. 6,000 bottles were filled in January 2016.