The Translanzas Vineyard was planted to Tinto del Pais in 1940 by the Pinacho family. The first vintage of the wine was 1998. The 2003 Tinto del Pais was aged for 13 months in French and American oak. Opaque purple-colored, it is almost Barolo-like aromatically with notes of road tar as well as pepper and blackberry. This leads to a firm, structured wine with 5-7 years of aging potential, excellent intensity, and a 40-second finish. Give it the requisite time in the cellar and drink it through 2025.Importer: Winebow, Inc., www.winebow.com

A more exact and rewarding Cigales red than most. It has a spot of mushroom and roughness to the nose, but the palate is well structured, with plenty of kick and some astringency coming from tannic bite, acidity and secondary oak notes. Traslanzas is not a factory wine and this is a strong effort for 2003, a notoriously hot year. Expect even better in 2004 and 2005.——M.S.(6/1/2008)—— 89