Spain

94 Points! There is a clear Jura twang in the white 2022 Ollos Branco that makes me wonder if the wine had any biological aging under flor (Garrido confirmed that it did!). It's the evolution of the wine he used to call Mercenario and comes from selected vineyards in different locations and soils and a myriad of varieties—Treixadura, Albariño, Godello, Loureira, Torrontés, Lado, Branco Lexítimo and Verdello Antigo—picked when they were still crunchy. It finished at 12.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.3 and 6.1 grams of acidity. It's tasty, complex, long, salty and vibrant, with effervescent freshness and a bitter and salty twist in the finish. I love it. He wants to represent an overall picture of Ribeiro, fermenting and aging in barrels and tinajas, where the wine matured for 10 months.- Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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94 Points! 2021 was a very good vintage for Dominio del Bendito, and the 2021 Las Sabias shows the freshness of the year with the ripe, concentrated, powerful house style. You don't really feel the 16.5% alcohol in this wine, and it comes through as full-bodied but balanced, with ripe fruit and tannins and integrated oak after spending 16 months in French oak barrels. It is finer-boned than other years. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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92+ Points! The 2022 Las Uvas de la Ira is Garnacha from seven vineyards in El Real de San Vicente, fermented separately and separating according to the health of the skins, with shorter and longer macerations, and matured in concrete and oak vats and foudres (50/50, approximately). It has the profile of the year, with slightly riper fruit, 14.5% alcohol and slightly dusty tannins.- Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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94 Points! The Lindes collection comes alternately in Bordeaux and Burgundy bottles, depending on the amount of Garnacha in the wine, with a Burgundian bottle for the wines with more Garnacha. The new 2020 Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de Labastida is made with grapes from 11 grape growers in the village with different lieux-dits ranging from 440 to 710 meters above sea level, and the final blend was 89% Tempranillo, 6% Graciano and 5% Garnacha. The winemaking and aging were similar for all the wines to highlight the differences from the places, in this case, the character of Labastida, which is more floral and with more finesse than San Vicente, more serious, more delicate but not without clout. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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95 Points! This shows dark fruit with floral notes of violets and a hint of graphite. Medium- to full-bodied with firm, polished tannins, dark fruit character and a long, deep, persistent finish. This comes exclusively from vineyards planted in the village of Abalos. Drink now or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93+ Points! The serious and austere new 2020 Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de Ábalos was produced with grapes on marl and limestone from the Marqués de Legarda, who is mentioned on the label. It's a blend of 73% Tempranillo, 17% Graciano, 6% Garnacha and 4% other varieties, presented in a straight Bordeaux bottle. It reflects more the character of Haro than the Rioja Alavesa, wines with more Graciano. It's medium to full-bodied with 14.17% alcohol and has fine-grained, chalky tannins. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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95 Points! Black berries, dark mushrooms, cloves and slate on the nose follow through to the palate with a medium body, soft and silky tannins and an attractive finish. Lovely tannin tension at the end. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

92+ Points! The 2020 Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de San Vicente de la Sonsierra is more fruit-driven, primary and perfumed than most of the other bottlings, juicier, with a sensation of higher ripeness (despite having lower alcohol, 13.79%) and slightly dusty tannins. The breakdown here was 88% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha and 2% other varieties. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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93+ Points! Rivas de Tereso are parishes of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, but the difference with the 2020 Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de Rivas de Tereso is that the vineyards are at higher altitude and the percentage of Garnacha is much higher here (38%), so there's more mountain character and more herbal notes in the wine. It has 57% Tempranillo and some 5% other varieties. Despite a moderate 13.95% alcohol, the nose shows good ripeness, and there is some wilderness here, perhaps a little more rusticity too. The soils are very stony and rich in limestone, and the altitude gives the wine an austere twist. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! Pretty profound nose with crushed stones, dried herbs and crushed blueberries. Dissolved, fine-grained tannins here with a full body and a lengthy, tightly wound finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

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94 Points! The perfumed and floral 2020 Lindes de Remelluri Viñedos de Peciña is the smallest cuvée from a narrow amphitheater in the parish of San Vicente de la Sonsierra. It's a blend of Tempranillo with 25% Garnacha and therefore presented in a Burgundian bottle, reflecting the high percentage of Garnacha. It has notes of Mediterranean herbs, some coolness from the high altitude of the vineyards and some austerity in the tannins. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! From a cool, high amphitheatre of vines planted in stony, calcareous soils, this is a big, broad-shouldered Rioja replete with slightly austere but expressive blue fruit, a touch of balsamic and pleasingly high acidity. The floral elements – violet especially – are enticing, and there’s a slightly meaty edge and just a wisp of smoke. Linear, precise, with robust tannins, it’s a wine with a beautiful underlying freshness that needs time in the glass. - Decanter Magazine

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94 Points! The 2022 Tio Uco Vino de Comarca, crafted with 90% Tinta de Toro and 10% Garnacha sourced from Paramo de la Guarena, is bottled as Vino de la Tierra de Castilla y Leon and was aged in 2500-liter foudres. It exhibits a purple hue. Its reductive nose, reminiscent of cherries, also features plums and light vanilla. Light and fairly lean, the taut and chalky palate leads to a compact, refreshing, juicy and lasting finish. - Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous Media

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93 Points! I found the 2018 Vinyes Velles to be quite ripe with notes of prunes and decayed violets, with 14.5% alcohol and a low pH, so the nose seems overripe but the palate feels fresher. It's 84% Cariñena and 16% Garnacha matured in 225-liter oak barrels for 15 months. Ripe and generously oaked. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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94 Points! There's also a village red from Labastida, of which I tasted two vintages. The 2021 Viñedos en Labastida is a blend of different plots with some 85% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha and 5% white grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts and some whole clusters in search of balance and elegance. The wine matured in 500- and 600-liter oak foudres in their cold cave. This was my favorite of the village reds, with a perfumed and elegant nose, complex, deep and nuanced. It's serious, harmonious and with very fine tannins. It has medium ripeness and good balance. 3,600 bottles were filled in September 2022. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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92+ Points! The white 2022 Terroir Històric Blanc is the regional wine that blends grapes from nine different villages, 75% Garnacha Blanca and 25% Macabeo from different soils, slate, clay, granite and alluvial. The bunches fermented for three to five days in stainless steel, and the wine matured in stainless steel for six months. It has 13% alcohol and mellow acidity, 4.5 grams. It has a spectacular nose that is very expressive, aromatic, clean and open with pungent notes of pollen and beeswax. It's juicy, round and clean with persistent and pungent flavors, not very high in acidity, eminently Mediterranean. Really impressive. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

 

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92+ Points! The 2019 Terroir Históric is charming, approachable, round, open and expressive, with good ripeness and 14% alcohol, a juicy palate with a soft mouthfeel and round tannins. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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From Finca Aeiroá (1939) – O Barco de Valdeorras – Pure slate soils intermixed with broken quartz, northern orientation – three field blend parcels planted adjacent to each other, primarily Godello with intermixed planting of indigenous red varieties. Northern orientation.

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92 Points! The new young red 2021 El Predilecto recovers Predilecto, which was a historic brand of the house, a wine with less aging than the rest and more fruity character. In this case, they want it to show the fruit expression of the vineyard without oak. They call it the new old concept in Rioja, what the wines used to be before the arrival of the French, pure fruit. It's a blend of 65% Garnacha from Cárdenas and Cordovín and 35% Tempranillo from Samaniego that fermented destemmed but uncrushed (so not exactly a carbonic maceration) with clean and fresh aromas and flavors. It's ripe and hedonistic, with 14.5% alcohol and good freshness. It matured in concrete for five months. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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92 Points! The light red 2021 Follaco was produced with a blend of ancient Juan García (80- to 100-year-old vines) and young Tempranillo (15-year-old vines) from gravelly soils with quartz, granite and slate picked early (the wine is 11% alcohol). It matured in well-seasoned, seven- to 12-year-old French oak barrels for 10 months. It has a bright ruby color and a bright and expressive nose of red berries and flowers. It's clean, light, fresh and very pleasant with vibrant flavors of acid berries. A bargain. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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94 Points! There is a new and impressive red 2020 Barrio Pastores, a village wine produced with old Garnacha grafted on Rupestris du Lot roots. It is perfumed and floral with moderate alcohol (13.8%) and with a medium-bodied palate with very fine tannins and a dry, austere finish. It has impressive freshness and a pH of 3.2 with 6.5 grams of acidity. The production tried to replicate the wines from yesteryear, and they achieved a clean, fine, soft, perfumed and happy red through foot-trodden grapes and maturing in large oak vats for 10 months. Superb debut. 2,000 bottles were filled in August 2021. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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92+ Points! I was quite surprised by the complexity and nuance of the 2020 Matsanko, despite being very young. It fermented with full clusters and semi-carbonic maceration and matured in barrel for five months. It's a blend of old-vine Garnacha (75%), Tempranillo (15%) and Viura (10%). It's elegant, serious and somehow austere, with good ripeness (14.5% alcohol) and concentration, abundant fine-grained tannins and good depth. 1,239 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2021...Aseginolaza & Leunda is one of the new names from Navarra worth following. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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94 Points! From a dry vintage, with Cabernet Sauvignon vines planted on deep alluvial soils, winemaker Miguel Torres describes this as: 'A very classic vintage of Mas La Plana.' Black fruit aromas – blackberry, blackcurrant – some blackcurrant leaf, coffee and dark chocolate hints. Complex, layered palate, with mouth-filling black fruit, plum, liquorice, very elegant tannins and well integrated oak (18 months in French oak, 85% new). Very smooth and balanced, showing considerable freshness and finesse. - Decanter

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92 Points! An excellent introduction to this extreme category. Intense caramelized-grapefruit character with plenty of toffee aroma. However, for a pedro ximénez, this has a certain lightness of touch and the sweetness is restrained. Long, raisiny but clean finish. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com Learn More