Red

92 points Wine Enthusiast
Aromas of blackberry and white chocolate with a touch of cedar lead the way for flavors of pomegranate, raspberry, milk chocolate and a touch of spice. Polished tannins evaporate into a long and vivid finish.

91 points Wine Spectator
Vanilla, licorice, dried mint, incense and tar notes offer a fragrant overtone to flavors of black raspberry, blackberry, dried fig and iron. This medium- to full-bodied red is refreshed by lively acidity and structured by lightly chalky tannins. Drink now through 2031.

Winemaker Notes:
The grapes come from vineyards, 30-40 years old, with yields of 2T/Ha and located high on the hillsides, 700-900 metres above sea level. The vineyards are planted in mainly decomposed slate and gravely clay soils. The fermentation was carried out in small stainless steel tanks for 15 days at temperetures below 27ºC, and then spent a short period of two months in French oak barrels.
It exhibits greater aromatic complexity, richness with mineral and blueberry notes leading to a savory and spicy wine nicely balanced and very easy to drink.

Food Pairing:
Pair with rice, pasta (noodles, spaghetti, macaroni), white and blue fish, goat cheese, cold meat, vegetables, lentil soup, peas,
mushroom, beef, chicken, roast meat, red and white grill meat.

Tasting Notes:
Color of intense dark cherry with a violet edge. Intense nose, dominated by ripe red fruits, raspberry, currant, together with balsamic and mineral notes. Powerful in the mouth, full-bodied, pleasantly tannic and fruity with a light spice on the finish.

94 points Jeb Dunnuck
Raised all in 500- and 600-liter barrels (all used), the 2021 Breca has a Châteauneuf du Pape-like bouquet of black raspberries, licorice, peppery herbs, and spice. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, rich, voluptuous, concentrated Garnacha with fine tannins and a great finish.

Organic / Biodynamic

This review is on the previous vintage.

93+ points Wine Advocate
The 2023 Clos Lojen is even more of a bargain than in previous years, as the price is the same and the quality is even higher!! It started being produced with 40-year-old vines, but those are by now 60 years old (I saw some of them, and they were REALLY impressive!); so, there's more depth and complexity; the vines are wiser (they've been tended nicely...) and manage to keep the freshness and approachability. They started harvesting the last week of August, and the result was 12.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.65 and 5.4 grams of acidity. The full clusters fermented in 4,500-liter oak vats and matured in foudres of different sizes—4,500, 10,000 and 15,000 liters—and lasted six months. The wine is fruit-driven, juicy, complex and spicy, balanced and tasty, textured and with a chalky feeling. This is way beyond what the price might suggest. 52,000 bottles produced in 2023. It was bottled between April and June 2024.

Organic / Biodynamic

94 points Wine Advocate
The 2023 La Casilla fermented with full clusters and indigenous yeasts in 4,500-liter oak vats and matured in those vats and some 600-liter barrels for nine months. It has incredible freshness, 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.6 and 5.5 grams of acidity. It's complex and serious, a lot more complex than Clos Lojen, despite the small price difference, and it has notes of berries, herbs and flowers, plenty of aromatic Mediterranean herbs and very good freshness and acidity, fine tannins and very good overall balance, ideal with food. It's serious but easy to drink. It's more Rhone than Burgundy. It was bottled in June 2024 and 15,000 bottles were produced. I tasted a bottle of the 2005, their first vintage, and the wine was fully mature, even if the style was different (it has 14.5% alcohol), more extractive and with more oak.

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.

93 points James Suckling
Fine spices, blackberries, cocoa powder and graphite. This is juicy and flavorful on the palate, with a full body and a heap of dusty tannins. Tight, structured and pretty long.

92 points Vinous
The 2022 Tritn originates from Toro and has been barrel-aged for up to eight months. Garnet in color. The ripe fruit aromas include blackberry and sour cherry above a backdrop of wild herbs. Rich and indulgent, the firm yet polished tannins and balanced acidity contribute to a long-lasting and overwhelmingly satisfying palate. This is truly a Toro red.

Organic / Natural

This was $15.99 a bottle! This is an easy-drinking Monastrell with less extraction than what maybe considered normal. Fresh and lively!

Bouquet has notes of cherry with hints of violet. Red fruits, with a gentle spicy note. Balanced, velvety palate leads to a soft tannic finish. A great change of pace from California Cabernet Sauvignons.

"Saturated ruby. High-pitched aromas of redcurrant and cherry, with complicating notes of rose, spicecake and minerals. Taut and energetic, offering sweet red fruit flavors and a sexy floral quality. Fine-grained tannins add shape to a spicy, incisive finish. This could use some bottle age." 90+pts Vinous

50/50 Garnacha/Syrah

La Comarcal is a small project by two good friends who just happen to be two of eastern Spain?????s most talented viticultors: Javi Revert and Victor Marqu??s. Located in the mountainous village of Venta del Moro in the Valencia D.O., La Comarcal ("The District") is a young winery founded in 2017 with the inspiration of making delicious, youthful wines?????new expressions based on the old mountain vineyards of native Valencian grape varieties they farm with certified organic viticulture and native yeasts, utilizing only a judicious amount of sulfur. They focus on regenerative agriculture in every aspect of their work. From researching the best locations to replant native varieties to replace the once-dominant international varieties to working with traditional mixed-agriculture farming and planting trees, Javi and Victor are lifelong students of their natural environment with the winemaking experience to make a significant impact in their region. It shows in the energy and transparency of the project, as this winemaking duo is among the most exciting teams to watch in Spain.

La Comarcal was built on the friendship formed by Javi and Victor while working together at the influential Valencian winery Celler del Roure for over ten years.

Organic

The review is on the 2019 vintage.

92+ points Wine Advocate
The village red 2019 Bellmunt was produced with 65% Garnacha, 30% Cariñena and 5% Cabernet Sauvignon and is very expressive, ripe with 14% alcohol and some herbal notes and very good freshness. The palate is medium-bodied and reveals abundant, fine-grained tannins. Very Priorat.

100% Single Vineyard Tempranillo; 21 months in barrel & 24 months in bottle

"Very deep colour; clean and bright. Intense cherry and purple glints. Very complex and elegant nose, red and black ripe fruits (cherry, mulberry) between complex tertiary aging aromas like liquorice, coffee, vanilla, roasted, leather and tobacco, with a characteristic mineral touch. Very elegant and velvety. With the same aromas founded in nose, complex. Ripe fruit, coffee, liquorice, leather, wood and roasted." Winemaker Notes

Good fruit and depth here, a medium to full-bodied palate and fine-grained tannins, and the wine has the stuffing and balance to overcome the creamy oak with some more time in bottle. It matured in a mixture of oak vats and barrels for some six to eight months. 200,000 bottles produced.

Spending 18-24 glorious months aging in used bourbon barrels from legendary Pappy Van Winkle, old vine fruit shines through with aromas and flavors of blueberry liqueur, blackberry, black cherry and peppery spice. Then there is a graceful segue into wood smoke, brown sugar, vanilla, and sweet spice that frame all of that ripe and savory fruit very nicely. Super full bodied and full flavored, but smooth and silky on the palate, this is probably about as close as most of us will get to Pappy van Winkle. -PJ Wine

Organic

92+ points Wine Advocate
The first wine they produced in 2007 is now the current 2023 Graciano, produced with grapes from different vineyards in the village of Corella in a zone with more Mediterranean influence, crafted in an approachable and fresh style with the local typicity, produced with very soft pump-overs. It fermented in 10,000-liter stainless steel vats with a soft extraction and matured in French oak barrels of different sizes for nine months. It has a nose of ripe berries, quite primary, and is fruit-driven with some honeyed undertones, herbal and balsamic. It has good ripeness, 13.3% alcohol, a pH of 3.40 and 5.35 grams of acidity, along with a juicy palate with very fine tannins.

The high-acid Graciano is the last one of their grapes to be harvested, in their vineyards around the village of Corella. Following a light maceration the wine ferments in steel. 25% of the wine is racked into French oak for malolactic, the rest happens in steel. The wines were blended and stayed 9 months on their lees in French barrels.

Organic

100% Cencibel, the local clone of Tempranillo. The alluring aromatics immediately envelop the senses, fresh red berries and subtle floral components waft from the glass. The dark core gives the impression of power and heft but the solid backbone of acidity provides lift, a weightlessness on the palate. Texturally lush with juicy blackberry and currant characteristics and a long finish that is dry. The balance from start to finish in this wine demonstrates the touch of a talented winemaker. This wine will surely earn a plethora of new fans.

Organically grown grapes in the village of Villarrobledo and El Provencio. 75+ year old vines (Castilla-La Mancha). Hand harvested. The grapes are destemmed, and then fermented with native yeasts in stainless steel tank. Maceration lasts until the end of alcoholic fermentation, with regular wetting of the cap. The wine is then pressed into centenarian local clay tinajas (amphora). The wine ages in tinajas for 3 months followed by 2 months in used French barrels and then 6 months in bottle before release.