Wines

93 points James Suckling
Lovely finesse and balance to this red, with berries, light vanilla and dried flowers. Medium body, creamy tannins and a bright finish.

90 points Wine Advocate
The 2019 Cune Reserva was produced with a blend of Tempranillo with 15% Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo from Haro. 2018 was a warm and healthy year that delivered a wine with 14% alcohol and good balance. It fermented in 20,000-liter stainless steel vats and matured in French and American oak barrels for 18 months. It's a classical warm year in the style of 2009, or 2015, already with some tertiary notes, hints of earth and leather, spicy and with abundant tannins that call for food

91 points Wine Advocate
The fruit-driven, ripe and heady 2019 Vina Real Crianza was produced with 90% Tempranillo and the rest between Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano from a vineyard in the Sonsierra zone (call it Rioja Alavesa if you like). It has 13.75% alcohol and a pH of 3.6 and is polished and easy to understand and like. It has plenty of tannins; it calls for food. The oak is soft and integrated.

93 points James Suckling
High-toned, floral aromas with orange peel and crushed blackberries. Medium-bodied with tight, chewy tannins that are polished and intense. Serious length and focus. Very drinkable now, but even better in 2024

Featured in The New York Times article by Eric Asimov: 20 wines under 20 for Hunkering Down
"This full-bodied red from an excellent producer on the Canary Islands is made entirely of listan negro, one of the major local grapes, grown in high-altitude, terraced vineyards. It's juicy and lightly tannic, with aromas of flowers and red fruits and maybe a touch of licorice."

92 points View from the Cellar
The Tinto Traditional bottling from Frontn de Oro is made entirely from Listn Negro, with the wine raised in neutral American oak casks for three months. The wine comes in at 13.5 percent octane in the 2022 vintage and delivers a lovely bouquet of bitter cherry, pepper, volcanic soil tones, tree bark and a lovely array of sweet botanicals in the upper register. On the palate the wine is full-bodied, elegant and nicely transparent, with a good core of fruit, tangy acids, modest tannins and a long, complex and beautifully balanced finish. Fine juice that could do with a handful of years in the cellar to soften up those backend tannins a bit more.

Winemaker Notes:
Montecillo Crianza consistently wins ‘best value’ wine awards, around the world. Established in 1874, Bodegas Montecillo is one of the oldest wineries in the D.O. Rioja. Montecillo maintains its ancient underground ‘bodega’ where hand stacked bottles remain undisturbed until reaching optimal roundness. Montecillo wines are crafted to enjoy a long bottle life; they continue bottle ageing longer than those from other wineries in the region.

Elegant and attractive cherry red, with a good depth and intensity of color. Ripe fruit on the nose, particularly strawberry preserve. Subtle flavors interlaced with notes of sweet oak that are reminiscent of black liquorice. Broad entry in the mouth, rounded and with great presence. Th­is is when we really notice the high quality of the oak, thanks to tannins that are well integrated with the ripe fruit, making the wine silky with a long, pleasant aftertaste.

Ideal with grilled meats, charcuterie, vegetable and pulse based stews, tapas and canapes.

Aromas of minerally pencil lead and smoky plum, berry and a little vanilla. This is slightly tight at first but opens beautifully. Plum and berry flavors offer more than enough support for the oak, while the finish is dominated by wood-spice. This wine is in the happy place between traditional Rioja and new age Rioja.