Manuel Manzaneque Suarez Fatum Tinto

Description

Manuel Manzaneque Suarez Fatum Tinto is red wine blend of Tempranillo and Bobal from the wine-growing region of La Mancha located in central Spain. It is bottled as a DO La Mancha (where Tempranillo is also known as Cencibel).

EA Vinos is a wine project by viticulturalist and oenologist Manuel Manzaneque Suarez. Some might be familiar with the name, Manuel’s father Manuel Manzaneque senior, founded a wine estate called Finca Elez which was one of the very first single estate wineries in Spain to be given its own DO, DO Finca Elez. It was only natural that Manuel Manzaneque Suarez would follow into the family business. Manuel studied Viticulture and Oenology at Montpellier SupAgro in France and went on to work harvests in the South of France, Spain and Bordeaux.  Eventually Manuel went on to be technical director of the family estate at El Bonillo, a job he did for 10 years.

In 2011 Manuel started his own wine project and in 2012 he left the family firm to concentrate solely on EA Vinos. The idea behind EA Vinos is to concentrate on indigenous grape varieties and to demonstrate that high quality wines can be in DO La Mancha. He has experimented with Bobal, Garnacha Tintorera and Cencibel (the local name for Tempranillo) from 30 to 70 year old vines. Manuel is also a consultant for to many wineries in the region, so I am sure he has good access to parcels of grapes! 

Manuel Manzaneque Suarez Fatum Tinto is made from grapes sourced from low-yielding vineyards located in located in Pozoamargo (Cuenca) with an average vine age of 20 to 35 years old. The soils here are primarily lime and clay soils, which are poor in nutrients with lots of pebbles which affords good drainage. The grapes are harvested from location to location when they are at the optimum state of ripeness. The grapes undergo a 4 day period of maceration at 12c prior to fermentation at 25c in stainless steel using only indigenous yeasts. The wine then undergoes a natural malolactic fermentation in stainless steel. The blend is usually around 80% Tempranillo and 20% Bobal.

Why is it called Fatum? Fatum translates from Latin as destiny or fate.