Spain

94 Points! The grapes for the 2021 Reserva (sold as Crianza in Spain), mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano, were picked late in a cooler year when they finished the harvest the 20th of October, with plenty of times for the grapes to develop full aromas and flavors and complete ripeness. It fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, separating qualities, villages and soils, and matured in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels, 20% of them new, for 24 months, with racking every eight to nine months. It's a textbook example of their style in a very good year, with power, concentration and clout, elegance and freshness. It was a very harmonious year; the cycle was long and the tannins ripened to perfection. It's terrific... - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The winery’s flagship, the wine that introduced Muga to the world, the 2021 Muga Reserva is Tempranillo-dominant, with Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano filling in the gaps. A larger-production wine, it offers tremendous quality, fermented in wooden vats using indigenous yeasts, the grapes separated by quality, soil type, and village origin. This one in particular is from a beautiful vintage and practically beams in full-bodied concentration, with supple, silky tannins and light touches of oak spice, cedar, balsamic, and white pepper. A new release, it should continue to thrive another 15-20 years. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

96 Points! Even more outstanding than the 2020, the incredibly priced 2021 Reserva is young in boisterous blue fruit, with a generous, full-bodied palate of richness and upfront power. The tannins add length and breadth to the wine, which is tasting great and could go another 10-15 years. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

96 Points! Elegant yet perfectly structured, this is the most floral of the Murrieta Reservas I’ve tasted in recent years. With 8% Graciano and 4% Mazuelo, the nose is perfumed with pretty rose petal and delicate red berry fruit, as well as wild herbal aromas. Blueberry fruit typical of Tempranillo directs the palate, rounded out with a little fleshy Garnacha, and framed by subtle American oak. It offers immediate appeal but will age gracefully for many years to come. - Decanter Magazine

95 Points! Their flagship wine comes from one of the finest vintages in recent times. The 2021 Marqués de Murrieta was previously called the Reserva and still qualifies as such, but it's not included in the name now. It was produced with 86% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo and 2% Garnacha Tinta from their 300 hectares of vines in their Ygay estate on limestone and clay soils with alluvial influence. The grapes were picked between the 27th of September and the 15th of October, and each plot and variety was vinified separately in stainless steel, matured in American oak barrels for 26 months, then blended and kept in concrete for a few months until bottling, which was a longer élevage this year. It's very spicy, peppery, with a combination of berry fruit and some incipient tertiary aromas, hints of forest floor and truffle. It's very Rioja, with clout, elegance and freshness and the elegant tannins that are the signature of 2021. It comes in at 14.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.6, denoting ripeness and balance. It's delicious, fresh and available. Bravo! - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! I tasted two vintages of the entry-level wine, starting with the 2021 Pícaro del Águila Tinto. It's ripe and round, with round tannins, velvety and polished, approachable and hedonistic. It's nicely built and serious, very serious for an entry level. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

97+ Points! The expressive, complex and nuanced 2016 Prado Enea Gran Reserva is a textbook traditional Rioja in the making. 2016 was a very elegant year, with aging potential, volume and very good acidity and freshness. It's full-bodied but fine-boned, has 14.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.6 and 5.25 grams per liter acidity. It has terrific balance, with all the components in the right proportion to age superbly in bottle. They have also been working on the selection of wood used. This wine matured in French and American oak barrels for three years, and the oak is super integrated. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

97 Points! Spiced red and black fruits, new saddle leather, smoky tobacco, and lead pencil are just some of the nuances in the 2016 Prado Enea Gran Reserva, a pure, medium to full-bodied, flawlessly balanced, beautifully textured Rioja from this team. With beautiful yet building tannins, a pure, focused style, and awesome length on the finish, it's a brilliant wine with a solid two decades of prime drinking ahead of it. - Jeb Dunnuck

97 Points! Complex aromas of dark fruit with violets, walnuts and chocolate. Classy. It's full-bodied with plush yet fine velvety tannins, and a precise and pointed finish. Juicy and savory. Tight finish. It's very long. This is beautiful now but will be even better in three or four years. Linear and vertical at the same time. Try after 2026. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! Savory berries, plums, iron, minerals, tobacco, ink and blood oranges. Very bright, juicy and structured, with sensational balance, aged savoriness and brightness that are typical of Tondonia reds. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The 2012 Viña Tondonia Reserva comes from a very dry year, with 25% less rain than the average (at the time), resulting in lower yields of very healthy grapes that delivered wines with nice balance between alcohol and polyphenols, making it very apt for the aging in barrel. It had a slightly longer élevage in barrel, six years. The wine is aromatic with a developed profile, spicy and tertiary (forest floor, a touch of brick dust and iodine), complex and nuanced. The palate is full and round, with polished tannins and a long, dry finish. It has a textbook Tondonia nose and profile. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! Viña Tondonia can seem austere in its (comparative) youth, especially when compared with sweeter Bosconia, but this is a wine that will reward patience. Picked earlier to assuage the effect of a warmer site, this blend of Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Graciano and Mazuelo is structured and focused, with redcurrant, forest floor and green herb notes. Give it time. 2025-32. - Tim Atkins, MW

95 Points! The 2012 Viña Tondonia is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano, cultivated on the meander of the Ebro River in Rioja Alta. This garnet wine reveals aromas of ash and plum marmalade, with a faintly herbal core and hints of oaky cedar. Dry and lean, the fairly chalky texture lingers long, concluding with a compact, flavorful and lasting finish. The 2012 is a beautiful old-school Rioja. - Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous

94+ Points! The 2019 Finca Terrerazo has similar parameters to the 2018 I tasted next to it: 14% alcohol, a slightly lower pH (3.542) and higher acidity (6.15 grams measured in tartaric acid). It also fermented in 3,500- and 5,000-liter oak vats with indigenous yeasts and a soft extraction, and it had an élevage in those containers of 18 months. There is a step up in precision here, quite noticeable when tasting it next to the 2018. It's subtle, elegant and insinuating. It was a very good vintage for this wine. In 2018, the vineyards suffered from hail, and the wine shows more clarity here, it's more transparent and pure, it has symmetry and very fine tannins. This has to be the finest Finca Terrerazo so far. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! From a slightly more challenging year for the region, the 2020 Muga Selección Especial checks in as 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha, and the rest Graciano and Mazuelo that's aged six months in new French barrique, followed by two full years in older French and American (70/30) oak barriques. Rocking levels of cassis and black raspberry-like fruit as well as graphite, spicy wood, violets, and lead pencil notes all shine on the nose, and it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, a round, layered mouthfeel, and silky tannins. It's already hard to resist. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

94 Points! Their most gastronomical red is the 2020 Selección Especial, a blend of the four traditional varieties from Rioja—Tempranillo, Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano—fermented in oak vats. Half of the destemmed grapes were put through an optical sorting machine. The wine matured in French oak barrels, 40% of them new, for 26 months and was racked every eight to nine months. 2020 was a warm year, and the wine comes in at 14.5% alcohol, with a pH of 3.56 and 5.75 grams of acidity. Manu Muga likes 2020 very much and says it's a year that suffers because it's in between 2019 and 2021. This is also a textbook example of this wine, a little more developed and tertiary, with generous spice and toast and a palate with more grip. The tannins are not as precise and elegant as those from 2021 (yeah, it suffers in the comparison), but it's a very worthy wine. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! The 2020 Selección Especial Muga is Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano. This aged for 26 months in 40% new French oak. Concentrated, with aromas of sour cherry, plum, fine oak, cedar and herbal notes, it's dry in the mouth with plush tannins and well-defined fruit. The tackiness adds structure and promises good aging potential.-  Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous

94 Points! The 2022 Anza red blend, which I already tasted last year, and seems to have had very little development and comes through as young and fresh, perfumed, floral and elegant. It's a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Viura and Malvasía with a very elegant, medium-bodied palate with very fine tannins. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! Chalk, vibrant berries, hibiscus and wet stones. Rich in red cherry fruit and plums, but fresh, with a medium to full body and tight, fine-grained tannins. Long and structured. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! The 2022 Pepe Luis shows the warmer and drier year with a more Mediterranean profile, notes of dry herbs and nutty touch. The palate is round and gentle but has the granite granularity that gives it a dry, chalky mouthfeel. It has 13% alcohol with a pH of 3.26 and 5.9 grams of acidity, lower than usual. This had a much longer élevage of 17 months in oak foudre, but the wine is not oaky. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The nose of the 2023 Alma de Mar is very leesy and smoky, with a very austere, chalky palate with a strong sensation of granite and sea breeze. It comes from grapes grown very close to the sea, and the wine tends to be quite vibrant but also has structure and volume. 3,000 bottles produced. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

97 Points! I like the intensity to this, with dark tar and smoky notes followed by graphite, tobacco, bitter cacao and dark fruit. Powerful yet tight and compact, with firm and polished tannins. Structured and so long. Tasted from magnum. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! This is at once fresh and elegant on first impression, with lovely hints of fragrant Turkish bazaar spices, game and dried mint lacing the crème de cassis, violet, and black and red licorice notes. Gliding across the palate, buoyed by fresh acidity and sculpted tannins, this expands to show deep notes of tarry smoke, fig cake, espresso and iron alongside the appealing fruit and spice. Long and creamy, offering both power and grace. Tinto Fino and Cabernet Sauvignon. Drink now through 2037. - Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator

95 Points! Highly aromatic scents of ripe cherry and dark berries, singed plum, cured tobacco and succulent herbs, with a vanilla undertone. Sweet, expansive and powerful, offering intense black and blue fruit flavors with smoke and floral accents. Rich and full but surprisingly lively, with excellent finishing thrust and sweet, harmonious tannins adding grip. Shows the ripeness of the vintage to good effect; this is a somewhat approachable and exotic Unico, especially with some air, but it has the concentration to age slowly. - Josh Raynolds, Vinous

96 Points! The bottled village red 2022 Corullón was produced with grapes from around 90 different plots and had a short élevage of eight months in barrel. It is 93% Mencía, 4% Jerez (Palomino), 2.5% Alicante Bouschet and 0.5% Gran Negro bottled at 13.5% alcohol. It's floral and aromatic, but compared with the more-austere 2023, it comes through as more generous, riper and a little gentler, with more fruit but with elegance and freshness that nobody expected during the torrid summer and harvest. It keeps the freshness and poise, with fine-grained tannins. 25,392 bottles and some smaller and larger formats produced. It was bottled in August and November 2023, as they had to stop for the harvest. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com 

94 Points! This is so gorgeous and well polished with aromas of berries, tobacco, cedar and fresh mushrooms. Medium to full body, fine tannins and a beautiful, textured finish. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! Lots of prunes, figs and black dates here with dried persimmon, saffron, walnut, old books and caramel. This is bone-dry and tangy with lots of walnut on the palate. Intense, balanced and long with a nutty finish. Drink now. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! Glossy, pure fruit here showing excellent concentration of red berries, cherries, hibiscus, stones and subtle spices. Concentrated and deep on the palate with outstanding volume for this vintage. Vertical and pretty long. One of the best Corimbos here. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93 Points! 2019 was a warm year, but the style of the wines is quite balanced, and the 2019 Corimbo shows quite faithful with the character of the year. It has a contained 14% alcohol and shows balance and seriousness. The nose shows some restraint, with varietal berry fruit and measured oak. It matured for 14 months in oak barrels, 80% of them French and the rest American. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

96 Points! Aromas of black berries, black olives, black truffles, autumn leaves and earth. Grilled orange peel. Very complex. Medium-bodied with very fine tannins and a complex and complete finish. Nicely persistent and focused. 26 months in American oak. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! The 2016 Gran Reserva is a meticulously crafted blend of 82% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 8% Mazuelo sourced from the esteemed Ygay Estate in Rioja Alta. It aged for up to 26 months in American oak barrels. This wine epitomizes the essence of Rioja reds when vineyard management and winemaking precision align with a distinct stylistic vision. Presenting an opaque garnet hue, it entices with a bouquet of complex aromas: plum marmalade, herbal undertones, maraschino cherry, dried fruits, licorice and subtle hints of balsamic and menthol. On the palate, it offers a dry and robust profile with a velvety, juicy texture. The finish is long, balanced and harmonious. The 2016 vintage exemplifies a wine crafted for aging, just beginning to reveal the nuances and intricacies of a bouquet that will evolve with time. - Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous Media

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

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

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