A rich, toasty red, offering a silky mix of concentrated boysenberry, cassis, espresso, dried mint and black licorice flavors. The muscular tannins are tightly sprung, but well-meshed with the fruit profile, emerging to...

A blend of Tempranillo and Cabernet Sauvignon, this wine has aromas of black cherry, dark chocolate and violet candy. Flavors of blackberry, Mission fig, mint tea, anise and lavender are intertwined with velvety tannins...

This appealing red shows good focus and fine structure without excessive weight. Flavors of crushed black raspberry, cassis and mountain herbs, plus lots of black pepper, anise and sandalwood accents, expand on the creamy...

A cuvée produced since 1970, the 2019 Mas La Plana is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Penedes. Aged 18 months in oak barrels and foudres (61% new) with only 4% remaining in steel tanks, this wine presents a garnet hue with...

A deep and pretty nose is on offer here of ripe strawberries, blackcurrants and blackberries as well as some herbal character. Full and velvety with ripe and polished tannins. Lightly jammy on the finish. Delicious. Drink...

I think the highlight from the 2020 vintage is the 2020 Parotet, the Arcos-based red blend complemented with 40% Mandó. In 2020 they used a little more full clusters of Arcos at the top of the vat, because they like how...

Very perfumed and fresh with fruit, flowers and some citrus. It’s medium-bodied with light tannins and a lively, vivid finish. A pure and precise wine. Lovely to drink now.

The eponymous red 2022 Ponce was produced with 80% Bobal from granite soils and 20% Moravia Agria from limestone and clay. It fermented with 100% full clusters in open-top 4,500-liter oak vats and finished fermenting and...

(94+ points) The youngest of the reds I tasted, the 2019 Pícaro del Águila Tinto is their most approachable red and is still serious, vibrant and aromatic with great length and still has good aging potential. They use...

The 2012 bottling of the Ygay Gran Reserva really ups the savoury character, with the Tempranillo buoyed by 19% Mazuelo, delivering bright fruits and fresh acidity. This is a vintage of true elegance. This wine was...

The 2021 Dits del Terra is 100% Cariñena from Priorat. A rare example of a light red from the warm southern-exposed slopes, it offers candied sour cherry aromas with faint hints of leaves and marmalade. Dry and rich yet...

The 2021 4 Kilos is beautiful, perfumed, elegant, nuanced and subtle with floral notes, Mediterranean herbs, red berries and a spicy twist. It's expressive, open and fine-boned, with a moderate 12% alcohol and a velvety...

A fresh, balanced red, with fragrant hints of dried rosemary and thyme, resin, and milled pepper accenting the core of creamy black raspberry and black plum fruit, enmeshed with fine, taut tannins. Stony finish. Garnacha...

The 2022 Garnacha Arroyo del Tórtolas is 100% Garnacha from Gredos. The attractive nose offers precise pomegranate aromas with hints of pink grapefruit, herbs, dried roses and rosehip. The palate is medium-bodied with...

The 2022 Garnacha Viña Bonita comes from Gredos, a subzone of San Martín de Valdeiglesias. Aged for 12 months in used large barrels or foudres, it opens with intriguing wild herb aromas followed by ripe guinda, dried...

A fine, place-oriented Rioja with roasted spices and rich but fresh blue fruit. Fine-grained tannins melt away in a long finish loaded with fruit. A little fuller and more structured than the tense 2021. Drink or hold.

The serious 2018 Mengoba Mencía Alicante Bouschet shows the potential of 2018 to produce very fresh reds that are both approachable and deep, complex but easy to understand. I think he has come to a blend that shows the...

Fresh and poised, with concentrated blackberry paste and black plum fruit laced with an alluring thread of anise, sandalwood, violet, thyme and tar aromatics. This is finely balanced, with fine-grained tannins emerging to...

The 2019 Reserva is primarily Tempranillo enriched with 3% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Merlot from Ribera del Duero and was aged up to 26 months in new French oak. A dark garnet-red with a slight haze. The nose features...

Aging gracefully, this harmonious red shows remarkable vibrancy and focus, with orange peel acidity and fine, taut tannins structuring a creamy mesh of baked cherry and sweet tobacco flavors. Accents of vanilla, milled...

This bobal reminds me of a beautifully refined, linear Rhone-style syrah. Meaty aromas of lard and dried herbs, then it becomes floral and spicy, but there’s dark, vibrant fruit all along. On the palate this is chalky and...

The 1998 vintage of Monte Real Gran Reserva was a seminal one for this superb bottling, as this was the first year where the wine was composed entirely of tempranillo and saw a bit of its elevage done in French casks...

I was looking forward to the 2018 Mas de Mancuso Garnacha, from one of the finest vintages in the region in recent times. It comes from a vineyard in the village of Almonacid, an old plot at 670 meters in altitude...

The 2020 Reserva Burgo Viejo from Rioja Oriental is a classically styled red with a nose of red fruit, gentle herbal notes and a touch of oak before vanilla and rosehip emerge at the end. Smooth, with polished tannins and...

The red 2023 Supernova Mantonegro is selected exclusively from head-pruned vineyards on the red clay and limestone soils called call vermell, 12 different plots ranging between 35 and 80 years of age fermented separately...