The wine is aged in a mixture of used and new French oak barrels, has an oaky nose, with the classic Tempranillo aromas of raspberries, and a lactic touch with strong overtones of mint, leather, vanilla and cinnamon. The palate is medium-bodied with grainy tannins as well as good focus
Ruby red colour with violet tints. On the nose it is fresh and elegant with characteristic aromas of cherry and red fruits typical of this variety. Light, harmonic and round on the palate with soft tannins.
Jancisrobinson.com 17 "Very deep crimson. Lovely mellifluous nose but with great structure. Fresh and yet luscious. Good Value". Surprising these 2 varieties aren't seen more in Oz. Properly structured classy dinner wine, great value -as Jancis says.
Very good Rioja that offers superb value. One year in a mixture of French and American oak barrels, adds texture and flavour to the tempranillo dominant blend from one of Rioja's most consistent producers.
100% Tempranillo. The Celeste begins with a really lovely and expressive nose of dark fruit (blackberry, black cherry, black currant) as well as some vanilla. This medium to full-bodied wine wine tastes simply succulent with lots of juicy fruit and a smooth texture.
Lopez de Haro Tempranillo is pure young Tempranillo: strawberries, raspberries, flowers and red licorice notes. A pleasure to drink slightly chilled with charcuterie. Refreshing and a real bargain.
"Rounded fruity and smooth, this Douro valley table wine from our new favourite port house is brilliant value for money ". On the nose has very fruity aromas, where the red fruits stand out in a very subtle and appealing spice background. In the mouth it is well structured, with a velvety texture and a very fresh and seductive finish. An elegant wine with a long and irresistible finish.
Fruity aromas enveloped by noble woods, with hints of vanilla and toast. Suggestive, enveloping and polished. Palate: It fills the mouth without aggressiveness, smooth and round. Ready to drink, although it can be saved some years.
Decanter
2015 Pintia is showing the results of work started in 2008 on the vineyard and in the winery. The palate will always be dense – after all, this is Toro. But the aromatics are tempting, with lively refined oak and red fruits. The acidity is bright. It's a wine that needs time. My score is 93-plus – I'd like to come back to it nearer its drinking time and reassess it. Pintia is emerging as a relative of Vega Sicilia that’s very much worth following.
Decanter 96
The first vintage to be vinified partly in new winery, and also the first vintage to be made entirely by winemaker Gonzalo Iturriaga de Juan (at Vega Sicilia also)... this is similar to the 2010, so a rich style of wine, concentrated with white pepper spice, but also juicy and gourmet and extremely enjoyable. This is too young right now, still needs a few years in bottle but it is a great wine with energy and freshness, and brilliantly showcases what Macán is becoming.
Parker 93+
...5% of the barrels were produced with American oak at the Vega Sicilia cooperage. The new winery was 100% ready and now has much better facilities. The élevage lasted 12 months, and this has contained ripeness and integrated oak. The year had freshness and balance and helped to produce lighter and more expressive wines, like this one. This has to be one of the finest vintages for this cuvée.
Navajas is a family-run estate, situated outside the small town of Navarrete in La Rioja Alta. Antonio Navajas makes quintessential Rioja - soft, round and oaky. This is a superb example of a crianza combining ripe, sweet fruit with vanillin scented oak.
Ripe red fruits combine with interwoven oak to give touches of spice, cherries and a hint of licquorice. A beautifully elegant, lasting finish. 12 months in French oak & 6 months in American oak
El Valiente is a fruity wine but maintaining the essence of Bodegas Valdaya, with floral memories, such as violet and balsamic. It maintains the classic elegant character of their wines but offering a more fruity and lovely profile. Very fresh with a delightful velvety texture.
This is everything you want in a quality Spanish wine, wonderful nose, sumptuous fruit and elegant oak all working in harmony with each other.
A sumptuous, handcrafted Tempranillo from Ribera del Duero DO, the Valdaya shines with aromas of dried fruit and balsamic hints. Flavours of ripe blackberries and dark cocoa complement the silky palate and subtle tannic structure.
Made using only free-run juice aged for 15 months, this is a wine of great freshness, minerality and aromatics. Ripe black fruit flavours, floral notes and a silky texture make for a luxurious feeling wine.
TIM ATKIN MW SAYS...
“Valdaya's top red, Mirum, keeps improving with every vintage and is now among the best wines inRibera del Duero. Made with Tinto Fino from old-vine parcels - LosBueyes and LasPiedras -inBaños de Valdearodos, it's very much a limestone-influenced style from 925 metres, with subtle wood, chalky minerality,red berry fruit,tension and floral, violet top notes. Long, stylish and beautifully judged. 2022-30”
Splendidly evolved, orange/brick red, almost-pinot-like delicacy with a hot-earth rusticity and nutmeg spice. Highly drinkable, stunning value.
Tim Atkin 93/100 "Cubillo is a later-picked site with more clay in the soil and tends to produce the lightest, freshest and most elegant of the López de Heredia reds. Floral, refined and delicately wooded, this is sweet, delicate and almost Pinot Noir-like in terms of its flavors and tannin structure."
The Bardos Reserva is an elegant high-altitude expression of Ribera del Duero wine made from low-yielding Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon. Aged for 14 months in oak, it has excellent structure from balanced tannins and acidity, alongside complex notes of dark fruit, chocolate and vanilla spice.
Expert winemaking from Guy Vanlancker produces this fantastic Tempranillo from the the exceptional terroir of his L'Infer vineyard in Minervois. Full bodied, rounded red fruits and subtle savoury nuances.
Rich, sweet and intense, it is loaded with raspberry and black cherry aromas, cedar chips and pretty violet notes and a hint of vanilla. The vanilla pops back again on the palate with caramel and supple grapey flavours.
Vega Sicilia's wonderfully approachable Toro offering. Of their range, frankly the best value and easiest to enjoy in youth (the wine... not you). Big, earthy, bold.
Old low-yield vineyards, located in Quintanilla de Onésimo, with great mesoclimate and soil conditions. Aged 14 months in second hand French oak barrels.
Deep purple ruby, youthful. Cool, menthol, blueberry, graphite nose, exciting. Intense palate, plenty of tannins but chock full of bramble, blueberry fruit, decent acidity and earnest concentration. Will be very good from 2021 onwards.
Elegant and round. It is well balanced with a velvety attack followed by a pleasant acidity and a silky and full-bodied aftertaste resulting from its noble and ripe tannin. Its long aftertaste has spicy and balsamic hints, resulting from its long and peaceful ageing, as well as confit fruit nuances that uncover its personality.
90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and 5% Garnacha from Rioja, Spain. The wine spends 20 months in a combination of French and American oak barrels. Inviting aromas of ripe black cherry, nice vanilla notes and a touch of balsamic. The wine tastes smooth and round in the mouth with lots of tart black cherry fruit, sweet spice notes, licorice and more vanilla.
This is Rioja at its precocious youthful best, with intense raspberry and black cherry fruit overlayed with a flourish of vanilla and coconut from 4 months in American oak. It is beautifully balanced with medium weight and cushioned by fine grain tannins." Ted Sandbach
Vega Sicilia's wonderfully approachable Toro offering. Of their range, frankly the best value and easiest to enjoy in youth (the wine... not you). Big, earthy, bold.
"Dense notes of macerated strawberries are followed seamlessly by those oh-so-glorious classic Tondonia notes of autumn bonfires and vanilla. But the 2008’s aromas move seamlessly into more delicate, almost ethereal layers of astonishing complexity – with dried cranberries, evolving into sweet, fresh raspberries. A blend of 70% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacho, with the remaining 10% a mix of Graciano and Mazuelo, the palate is surprisingly tight with lots of super-fine tannins. Initially ultra-fresh, the wine mellows with air, transforming into a gentle and glorious wine with savoury hints of marmite and cured meat, spiralling away into an endless finish. Warm, delicious, elegant and exhilarating, this is more in line with the cool 2006 than other recent vintages. A wine worthy of any cellar."
Catriona Felstead MW
A small family-run bodega near the village of Navarrete, in the heart of Rioja D.O.C., making wines of great integrity and some finesse. It was founded in 1918 and is today run by Antonio Navajas and his wife. This is a big favourite of many of our customers and on a 'value for money' basis it is not hard to understand why.
