Spain

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

93 Points! There's a little more ripeness and concentration in the 2020 Parajes, which matured in well-seasoned (at least fourth use) barriques and a 5,000-liter oak foudre. It's a little rounder and creamier, a more powerful wine (it was bottled 15 days before I tasted it) with a nice Bierzo character. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

91 Points! A juicy and berry-oriented Rioja with a stony edge to the black cherries and plums. Firm, bright and pretty succulent on the palate with medium body. Well-balanced even though it is not complex. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! A really drinkable Ribera del Duero that shows restraint and finesse. Dark cherries and grilled herbs with a hint of white pepper and cocoa powder. Full and supple with fine, precise tannins. Very long, persistent and rather intellectual. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! The more traditional 2012 Gran Reserva comes from one of the driest years on record. It's mostly Tempranillo with some 3% Graciano matured in American oak barrels, 25% of them new, for 26 months, despite which, the wine is not excessively oaky. They wanted to keep the traditional profile but adjusted the toast on the barrels to adjust the excessive vanilla and coconut. This is structured, powerful, ripe without excess, spicy and balsamic, developing the bouquet, still young and with very good balance. It should be long lived. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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

93 Points Tim Atkin, MW!

95 Points! A harmonious red that marries modern pomp with restraint and elegance. Full-bodied and lush, yet fresh and well-defined by sinewy tannins. Features flavors of pureed blackberry, licorice snap, herbed black olive and mocha that expand on the palate, with tarry smoke and loamy earth character. Best from 2023 through 2033. - Wine Spectator

93+ Points! The 2020 Centales is a new single-vineyard bottle that has been given the Viñedo Singular category. It comes from a plot in Centales de Uruñuela bordering Huércanos and was planted in 1966 at 500 meters in altitude on limestone-rich soils where they have a field blend of varieties all fermented together that produces a characterful wine with a different, perfumed nose and a medium to full-bodied palate. The number of varieties gives the following breakdown: 52% Tempranillo, 25% Mazuelo, 14% Viura, 7% Garnacha and 2% Maturana Tinta that achieved 13.9% alcohol after fermenting in stainless steel and maturing in second-use French oak barrels for 11 months. It's a bit oaky and creamy but has the depth and balance to digest it and integrate it with some time in bottle. Only 780 bottles were filled in September 2021. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

The vineyard that produced this wine was planted 115 years ago on clay and limestone soils rich in iron with a mix of Garnacha Blanca, Malvasía and Viura on south-facing slopes at 700 meters in altitude. The bunches were hand-destemmed and the grapes pressed in a small vertical press. The juice was let to settle and put to ferment with indigenous yeasts in new 500-liter French oak barrels, where it was kept with lees for eight months.

From the importer: 100% Mencía sourced from the El Canto vineyard near the town of San Lorenzo. The soils here are slate and quartz with a northern exposure. 100% whole clusters, crushed by foot; fermented with native yeast in clay amphorae and macerated on the skins for five months with no punchdowns or pumpovers, then aged for eight months in used French oak. 1,000 bottles produced.

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

91 Points! This year, the 2019 Sologarnacha Amphora Aging was produced with grapes from a vineyard planted in 2017. It's "only" 13.5% alcohol (most of the other wines are much higher in alcohol) and has a perfumed and floral nose, showing some lightness after a short maceration to keep the more ethereal part of the variety. The wine matured in a clay tinaja for five months. Only 295 bottles were filled in July 2020. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

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

93 Points! Notes of pastry, roasted pineapple, minerals, cashews and fine lees on the nose. This is a flavorful and round verdejo, but subtle and tactile, with a bright streak of acidity passing through the palate and leaving a broad but fresh-toned mouth-feel. From organically grown grapes. Drink now or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! The grand vin 2019 O Gran Mein is a blend of different varieties and vineyards that represents the best they have in white, fermenting each variety by plot, which gives them a lot of lots to make a blend. The idea is to achieve something that is complex but delicate rather than intense. It achieved 13% alcohol while it kept a pH of 3.34 and 6.29 grams of acidity, blending wines that fermented in stainless steel, concrete, foudre and 600-liter barrel and matured in tank for 14 months. It has aromatic complexity and depth and is elegant and nuanced, with herbal, balsamic and spicy aromas and the inland, river character. The palate is really balanced, and the mouthfeel is terribly stony, with a drying finish. Here they are again looking for potential to create this blend; they talk about wines for 30 years, guided by the first vintages in the 1990s. - Wine Advocate