Events

Organic / Biodynamic

96+ points Wine Advocate
For Juan Antonio Ponce, the 2022 La Estrecha is the vintage that better showcases the finesse of Bobal that they have been looking for, which he describes as fine, ethereal, fresh, elegant and intense. The plot has vines over 75 years old, with 90% Bobal and other mixed varieties on granite soils. It fermented with 100% full clusters in a 4,500-liter barrel and matured in a 5,000-liter oak foudre (instead of in 600-liter barrels like in the past) for 10 months. The wines are not fined, filtered or cold stabilized. This has only 12.5% alcohol, which is possible in the Mediterranean. This is very pale, delicate and ethereal, the change in the élevage from barrels to larger foudre seems to have had a big impact in the wine that feels more relaxed. 4,800 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2023.

92+ points Wine Advocate
A new wine from the Viña Real winery, the 2020 Bakeder is a village red produced with Tempranillo grapes from Laguardia. It has contained oak and good ripeness at 13.95% alcohol, a more modern style of red that shows very young, quite fruit-driven and with a soft mouthfeel and velvety tannins. It has purity of fruit, elegance and finesse with respectful oak after 10 months in French barriques. There are some 30,000 bottles of this. It was first produced in 2019.

An earthy, lentil-flavored Cava, rich in the mouth. Muddled in presentation. - WS78

92 points Wine Advocate
The regular 2022 Blue Label (there's also a special cuvée in 2022) was still matured in new oak, but they used less toast and barrels from coopers that marked the wine less. It was produced with a blend of 60% Monastrell, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Syrah and had an élevage of 18 months. It's aromatic, spicy and toasty, with notes of vanilla and cinnamon, ripe berries and aromatic herbs. It's ripe at 15.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.71, 5.5 grams of acidity and three grams of residual sugar. It's medium to full-bodied with abundant, fine-grained tannins and some oak-related flavors.

95 pts Wine Advocate
The red flagship 2006 Viña Tondonia Reserva was inspired by the vineyards of the Médoc but produced with local grapes, 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, which achieved 13% alcohol in 2006. It always matures in used American oak barriques for some six years. The oldest of all the reds I tasted, it was also the one with more freshness, which speaks to the quality of the vineyard. This takes the lion's share of the 400,000 bottles the winery produces, with some 220,000 bottles filled over a period of 12 consecutive days in May 2014.

Organic

Elegant aromats of spice, graphite, red cherry, cranberry sauce, hints of char and smoke but it’s so well integrated, the wine doesn’t seem oak driven at all. Instead, it’s woven with depth of spice and balanced fruit, and roasted herbs. Fresh on the palate, seemless tannin but not polished.
Nothing is over-the-top or over-done, it’s classic, old-school style. This is going to age forever.

Dry farmed, sustainable/non-certified organic. Multiple small lots of of 100 year old vines from Rioja
Alavesa and Alta are used to create MdT Gran Reserva. The regions Calcareous clay soils moderate yield, while goblet trained old vines limit the production of this offering. Micro lots of Graciano are sourced where acidity is retained through alluvial silt soils. Aged in 90% French, 10% American Oak for 30 months before bottling without fining or filtertration. The Wine is then aged in bottle for 40 months before release.

A Centenaria Rioja winery respecting traditions in cellar aging their wines. With a family grape growing history since 1886, Don Román Montaña founded the winery Marqués de Tomares in 1910, and it is still operated by his grandchildren who continue to maintain the wineries tradition both in the winery and in the estate’s vineyards. With nearly 106 hectares of family-owned vineyards, many of which more than 100 years old, spotted throughout Rioja Alta in Haro, Fuenmayor and the surrounding areas, careful viticulture and longtime partnerships with local farmers lend to the precise identity of Marqués de Tomares.

#40 on The Wine Spectator Top 100 Wines Of 2025

93 points Wine Spectator
There's a bright, buoyant feel to this fluid red. Its frame of mandarin orange peel acidity and chalky tannins is well-meshed with a dark and expressive core of macerated blackberry and black plum skin. Fragrant notes of leather, dried flowers, mountain herbs, licorice and paprika add depth to the fruit profile and linger on the finish. Tempranillo, Garnacha and Graciano. Drink now through 2040.

97 points Vinous
The 2023 La Vitoriana Lomas de Valtuille is a Mencia from the eponymous paraje in Valtuille, sourced from a centenary vineyard. It fermented with 100% whole clusters and aged for up to 11 months in barrel. This is expressive on the nose, with flowers, mint, white pepper and dried blossoms providing aromatic lift. The tannins are fine, the palate is flavorful and the whole-cluster fermentation gives it a compact, tight finish.

95 points Wine Advocate
The 2023 La Vizcaina La Vitoriana is the only red from the Vizcaina range that is not from their own vines, as they buy the grapes, 1.1 hectares in the lower part of the lieu-dit that has sandy soils (the other parts have clay). It's quite linear and with good acidity but ripened thoroughly. There are no white grapes here, only a small percentage of Bastardo, and the vines are 100+ years of age. This is a small lieu-dit in a cooler place in the village, a place that is harvested later. Some 5,000 bottles produced.

Organic

92 points Vinous
The 2017 Brut Nature Leopardi is a blend of 45% Macabeo, 40% Xarello and 15% Parellada trom Penedès. Aged for 66 months on the lees and disgorged in March 2024, this sparkling wine offers aromas of thyme and lime, with oxidative green apple tones set against a bakery layer. Dry and refreshing, the ethereal, crunchy palate drives through a yeasty, saline finish. This is a well-crafted, savory Corpinnat.

"The NV Palo Cortado Obispo Gascon, produced from Palomino grapes averaging 20 years old, and shows the telltale nose of Palo Cortado with its lactic touch and an off-dry nose of apricots, blond tobacco and spices. The palate is dominated by the salty notes (common to all Barbadillo wines), sharp, medium-bodied, with great length. Drink 2013-2019." 92pts WA

The Palo Cortado sherries are particularly special within the Jerez-X??r??s-Sherry Designation of Origin. This is because despite the fact that production follows the similar physical-chemical process of oxidative ageing as with the olorosos, the result is quite different with their organoleptic characteristics falling somewhere between those of an amontillado and an oloroso.

Barbadillo is, without a doubt, both the largest and the leading bodega of Sanlucar de Barrameda. Created in 1821 by Benigno Barbadillo, the company it?????s still owned today by the seventh generation of the Barbadillo family, dozens of stockholders spread throughout Spain, although not necessarily involved in the operations. The business has also expanded, not only within the Sherry district, where they sell an impressive 12 million bottles of wine annually (a lot of it is the young and fruity Castillo de San Diego, which at one point was the biggest selling white wine in Spain), 40% of which are exported, but also in Ribera del Duero and Somontano. They employ 300 people and their wines are available in 39 different countries. In Sherry they own 500 hectares of vineyards, stock around 60% of the total production of Manzanilla which ages in 12,500 botas in their great cellars in Sanlucar, mainly in La Arboledilla winery, the tallest bodega in the Marco de Jerez, an impressive 16 meters high, and in a network of 16 other large and small bodegas in the Barrio Alto, the High Quarter of Sanlucar de Barrameda. They are constantly innovating and experimenting, be it with red or sparkling wines or within the Manzanilla world, as they were the first to bottle Manzanilla en rama (unfiltered) back in 1999, doing four sacas (bottlings) per year, one during each season, which they sell in half bottles with labels that clearly identify the saca and year. Other than that, their range is pretty exhaustive, from entry level wines, through VORS and an exclusive Reliquia range from the oldest, family-owned botas, some of them containing wines averaging 80 to 100 years old. As a curiosity, they probably stock more Palo Cortado than any other winery (on earth),120 casks, as the famous Toto Barbadillo had an obsession with that category and purchased all he could get his hands on. I had a great visit there with winemaker Montse Molina who arrived in Sanlucar from her native Cataluna 15 years ago and she has not looked back since. Tasting wines from the bota, listening to a knowledgeable winemaker and realizing how different and how complex the wines are is one of the pleasures one should experience at least once in a lifetime.

94+ points Wine Advocate
The young 2024 A Pedreira is serious and austere, subtle, still a tad reductive but following the house style of whites that are clean, elegant and very tasty and with a subtle salty twist in the finish. It was produced with grapes from very white sandy soils in Meaño, Padrenda and Sanxenxo and fermented in oak (barrels and foudres) and 30% in stainless steel, where it matured for four to six months. I think this will be even better with a couple of years in bottle. The work with oak is unnoticeable in the flavors or aromas, but it gives the wine nuance and complexity. It comes in at 13% alcohol, with a pH of 3.32 and 8.1 grams of acidity. 65,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2025

100% Albariño • this flagship bottling comes from assorted vineyards (including A Pedreira, the original source) in Padrenda, Cambados, Meaño and Sanxenxo on decomposed granite and schist, 40 years old on average • whole-cluster pressed and fermented spontaneously • no malolactic • raised for 8 months on the lees in 70% stainless steel and 30% French oak with format ranging from 350L to 3500L • 5000 cases produced

92 points Jeb Dunnuck
The 90% Tempranillo and 10% Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano in the 2021 Vina Real Crianza are grown only in Rioja Alavesa from the winery’s own vines, with the intent of showcasing the area. Fresh, lively acidity balances dusty tannins and full-bodied berry fruit, the oak well-integrated in the background. Age 10-12 years.

91 points James Suckling
A spicy rendition of Cune crianza, but as always this is fruity, with lots of cherries, plums and a touch of white pepper. Juicy and bright, with some restrained fruit sweetness. Very fine-grained, juicy and consistent.

A subtle, complex Spanish brandy with notes of almond and coffee.

92 points Wine Advocate
The 2017 Reserva comes from the frost year when they lost a great part of the grapes. The cycle was very short and the summer was warm, and it was one of their earlier harvests. The wine comes in at a moderate 14% alcohol and feels very approachable, with grip and some tannins that would welcome food. They still produced 40,000 bottles, because there was less Crianza.

92 points Wine Spectator
Fragrant hints of anise, iron and mountain herbs add depth to the focused core of ripe black cherry and black raspberry fruit. Sculpted tannins form a fine frame for this fluid, well-knit red, firming the lingering finish. Drink now through 2032.

Organic

The review is on the previous vintage.

92 points Wine Advocate
A new red produced with grapes from the village of San Lorenzo, the 2022 Motorpsico comes from plots from the zone of A Merced that have 30% white grapes. It's produced following the way the wine was produced in the village of Toral de los Vados, adding must without skins to produce a lighter red. The wine then matured in used 225-liter French oak barrels for one year. It's pale, perfumed, fruit-driven and light, with 12.5% alcohol a medium-bodied palate and very fine, almost unnoticeable tannins. It is perfumed and delicious.

94 points Wine Advocate
Like the Palo Cortado and Oloroso, there's also a younger NV Amontillado Criadera Selection, 12 to 13 years on average, selected from the botas in the Bodega de las Mil Pesetas. It has 19% alcohol and a pH of 3.35. All three wines in this new range showcase the character of each style. This is more pungent and saline, sharper. It's a very honest wine, delineated, saline, with notes of salted caramel, and it has the evolution of an old Manzanilla, elegant and true to the style. The whole range feels like a bargain. 1,530 bottles were filled in May 2024.

100% Palomino o aged both biologically (with flor) and oxidatively (without) for a total average of between 10-15 years in old American-oak botas o sourced from criaderas in the Mil Pesetas bodega o bottled en rama (minimal filtration)

Godello

Organic / Biodynamic

50% Albillo Real, 30% Macabeo, 15% Moscatel, 5% Grenache Blanc.
It fermented with indigenous yeasts, part in barrel, and matured in 500-liter barrels and tinajas. It's clean, floral and expressive, with purity of flavors, a spicy twist and a very tasty finish with a salty and bitter twist. It keeps the freshness and balance

Organic / Natural

Varieties: 40% Macabeu, 30% Xarel-lo 30% Garnatxa, 10% Malvasia

Cellar: Vinified in 15,000-liter stainless steel tanks for 30 days with only indigenous yeasts. After which, the wine goes into concrete tanks for 3 months for malolactic fermentation and battonage. The wine is unfined and goes through a soft paper filter to remove tartaric particles. Lightly sulfured at bottling.

93 points James Suckling
Aromas of plums, mulberries, dried flowers, stones and violets. Medium-bodied with fine tannins. Textured and creamy. Balanced and subtle. Flavorful finish with excellent length.

The Merayo family have been growing grapes for generations in Bierzo and one look at Pedro’s immaculate vineyards suggests he knows what he’s doing. The bulk of Pedro’s 25 hectares of ancient vines were inherited from his father but Bodegas Merayo and the new winery (housed in a converted apple store) were established as recently as 2010.

95 points James Suckling
A really fresh and serious nose here with mineral, subtle cream and freshly squeezed lemon zest. Lime and a hint of meringue, too. This is really zingy, chalky, fresh and packed with a very taut mid-palate and a long, mouthwatering finish. Effortless drinkability and you barely feel any alcohol here. A hint of white almond at the end. 80% viura and 20% garnacha blanca. Exciting! Drink or hold.

93+ points Wine Advocate
The white 2021 Blanco wants to go back to the traditional whites from Rioja with aging potential but keeping the floral and fruit-driven character using 500-liter barrels. It's mostly Viura, with 20% Garnacha Blanca, and it has a moderate 12.44% alcohol and amazing freshness and acidity parameters (pH 3.07 and 7.01 grams of acidity). This feels like a light vintage, and it's more herbal (fennel emerges with time...), balsamic and with a smoky touch. It has lower alcohol and, therefore, more noticeable acidity and ends with a dry, chalky finish. The oak is nicely integrated (they stopped using 225-liter barrels for this wine), and the palate is fine-boned, lively and lighter than in the initial vintages..

Organic / Biodynamic

92-93 points Wine Advocate
The sample of the 2022 Pétalos has a fresh twist of watermelon, which is quite remarkable, as the summer torrid and very dry and they expected much riper wines. Some 25% of the grapes used here are from owned vineyards in the village of Corullón and 80% purchased grapes. They used more white grapes this year, more than any other year, to give the wines freshness. The result is much better than expected; there's not much acidity, but using so many different plots allows more room to play with the blend, which is something they can only do here and in Corullón. It's perfumed and quite harmonious, balanced and fresher than expected. They expect to fill some 290,000 bottles. This is the 20th anniversary of Pétalos and the 25th anniversary of the winery

"The 2004 Gran Reserva 890 is the top of the range here, a wine that is only released three/four times per decade in exceptional years. They start by sourcing grapes from their oldest vineyards and going through a slow process of aging the wine in American oak barrels for six years, with ten manual rackings, and each time there is a selection of only the best barrels. The bottled wine is 13.5% alcohol with a remarkably low pH (3.0) that to me means 'quality' of the acidity, which is a healthy six grams per liter (in tartaric). The nose is all about forest floor aromas, game, cigar ash, incense, old furniture and some smoked meat. The palate shows what the technical data was hinting--very fresh with slightly dusty tannins and nice acidity. It's polished, but feels livelier than some older vintages. 38,000 numbered bottles." 94+pts WA

Tempranillo (95%) and Mazuelo (2%) from estate-owned vineyards in Bri??as, Labastida and Villalba and, in addition, Graciano (3%) from our Montecillo vineyard. This is the first Gran Reserva 890 in which we use Graciano grapes from this vineyard. The wine was aged for 6 years in American oak barrels. The barrels were manufactured in our cooperage, with wood imported from the USA and dried at our facilities for three years. During the 10 rackings, we carried out a further selection of the barrels to be used for the final blend, which was bottled in March 2011.

The Bodega was formed in 1890 as a partnership of 5 quality-conscious growers keen to exploit the export potential for well-made, ?????modern????? Rioja. At this time, French vineyards were ravaged by phylloxera, and connoisseurs were having to look elsewhere for supplies of fine wine. Rioja, with its excellent climate and soils, had already attracted attention, and experiments with Bordeaux-style vinification and barrique-aging were proving very successful. The region?????s only real disadvantage was its remoteness, cut off from the lucrative markets to the north by the same mountains that ensured its favorable climate. This problem was solved by construction of the rail link to Bilbao, and it is no coincidence that Bodegas La Rioja Alta was established next to the Haro railway station in the same year it opened. In 1904, La Rioja Alta absorbed Bodegas Ardanza, and gained access to some of the finest vineyards in the Rioja Alta district. The luxury 904 bottling commemorates this important milestone in the company?????s development. Since then Rioja has seen more bad times than good, and many producers have harmed the reputation of the region and its production methods, releasing sloppily-aged wines which were never good enough to support a long time in cask. But La Rioja Alta has never let standards slip, and continues to this day the tradition of careful long-aging that gives Rioja its unique character. These wines offer a wonderfully complex bouquet, rich flavours, a seductively smooth texture, and are all ready to drink on release.

Few dispute that La Rioja Alta S.A. is the leading quality orientated producer in the Rioja. With more than 50,000 casks and 6.4 million bottles stored at any one time, the equivalent of about 8 years sales, La Rioja Alta S.A. is unique in its ability to supply large quantities of fully mature wines of world class quality. The company owns 300 hectares of vineyards in different parts of the best zones of the Rioja Alta region. La Rioja Alta S.A. is specialized in red wines. The leading grape variety is the Tempranillo with small doses of Mazuelo and Graciano. The Vina Ardanza differs from the other wines with some 25% Garnacha in the blend. After vinification in the new ultra modern vinification plant near Haro, aging is in traditional Bordeaux casks, all made from American oak. Racking is by hand every 6 months with 8 teams working full time racking the 51,000 casks. There is no filtration prior to bottling and further long aging in bottle before release. In short the wines are made in the traditional Rioja manner. The company is adamant about not using French oak, keeping the unique Rioja style which has been developed since the end of the 19th century. In spite of the varying amount of time in cask and bottle the wines all display a wonderful rich ruby colour, gorgeous aromas of oak, spices and fruit followed by a sensational feel on the palate, with a wonderful smooth texture, clean rich oaky/fruity flavours and a long lingering finish. All the wines are ready for consumption on release but will keep for many more years in bottle. This situation is almost unique in the world of wine and is the reason why so many restaurants list La Rioja Alta?????s outstanding range of truly classic Rioja wines.

WS 94
Tea, tobacco, cedar and spice notes mingle with deeper licorice, plum and iron flavors in this savory red. The texture is supple and polished, but there's a firm tannic backbone. Focused and harmonious, in the traditional style. Drink now through 2024. 1,166 cases made.