RED WINE - Spain

Depp, bright purple.  Drop-dead aromas of dark berry preserves, Asian spice, potpourri and incense, with an intense mineral overtone.  Stains the palate with sappy, chewy black raspberry and floral pastille flavors enlivened by notes of allspice, star anise and nutmeg.  Silky, sweet and penetrating on the finish, which clings with outstanding tenacity and clarity.  There's an elegance and focus here that's reminiscent of the best Burgundies, but with more power and texture.  If I were a third-world despot this is what I'd be drinking every day. STEPHEN TANZER, wineaccess.com

The 2015 Dominio Do Bibei blew my mind. It's is a blend of 80% Brancellao and 20% Mouratón from different vineyards, and it has a super elegant, aromatic and ethereal profile within the power and earthy character of the wines from the zone. This fermented and aged in barrels and had an extra élevage in 1,500-liter oak foudre, but the oak is perfectly and neatly folded into the wine, which is nuanced perfumed and really captivating. The palate also reveals great harmony and balance, good freshness and very fine tannins, and the way all of the elements seem to complement each other suggests that this is going to continue evolving slowly in bottle. A great Ribeira Sacra expressing the character through the traditional varieties of yesteryear. 2,021 bottles were filled in July 2017. LUIS GUTIERREZ

Small parcels from the villages of San Esteban, Fuentelcésped, Hontangas, Cuevas de Provanco and Trigueros de Valle. 88%Tinto Fino (20% whole bunch) with 10% Garnacha (100% whole bunch) and some Albillo white. Aged 21 months, partly in Darnajou 225 and 600 litres, plus 2 Taransaud 1200 litre foudre in their third year.

Powerful but classy with fine fresh acidity and delightful earthen aromas developing with time open to air. Predominantly in a blue fruit register, with a crush of twig and glycerol tempered by fine minerality. Sweet spices and a vegetal tannin thread in the mouth replicates the woodsiness on the nose. Delicate bitters on the tongue elongate the finish, holding the mouth poised to notice the fine cloud of earthen-blue florals beyond. SCOTT WASLEY

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A family-owned winery and cellar; 60 hectares of vineyards around the small village of Sinarcas, on an 800-metre high plateau inland from Valencia and close to the border with Castilla-La Mancha, surrounded by a pine forest. Sebastian Mancebo makes terrific organic wines mostly from native Bobal, alongside alternatives like Gewürztraminer.

Vines are typically more than 40 years old and planted at altitudes of 900 meters. The grapes are hand-sorted before the fermentation and the partially crushed grapes are then subjected to low temperature for the extraction of primary, fruit aromas. The fermentation is done at low temperatures (18ºC) in temperature with no oak.

A brilliant cherry-red colour, of medium intensity and purplish highlights. It has a bouquet of wild flowers and a salty minerality, typical of the regions' soils. Forceful yet velvety on the palate. Fruity with notes of blackberries, it hides a slight bitterness that balances the fruit, with a persistent and long finish. PWS

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More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

10 BOTTLES AVAILABLE

Dark, bright-rimmed ruby. Spice- and mineral-accented dark berry and floral scents show fine clarity and a complementary hint of candied licorice. Sappy and focused on the palate, offering gently sweet boysenberry, bitter cherry and violet pastille flavors and a spicy touch of white pepper. The mineral quality repeats on a very long, penetrating finish that leaves sweet blue fruit and spicecake notes behind. JOSH RAYNOLDS

Jorge Monzon's brazen approach landed him a job at one of the world's best wineries, Domaine Romanee Conti. He simply knocked on the door at the famed Vosne Romanee estate and stayed for 10 years. His last few years saw him working alongside the winery's cellar master, Bernard Noblet learning all aspects of making these prestigious wines. He began to understand that everything counts, even if it seems insignificant, that shortcuts should be avoided. He learned the beauty of wine.

While working for 'the man' Jorge bought as many plots of old vine tinto fino (tempranillo) around his hometown village of La Aguilera in the province of Burgos - one of the best zones in Ribera del Duero. Many were destined for grubbing up or replanting with trellised vines. To date, Jorge has 66 hectares spread across 250 plots!

'…it has the depth, concentration and nuance of the best wines from many wineries. It's produced in a more jovial style, but the wine comes from old vines that always have a field blend with small percentages of whatever grapes that are all fermented together, and these vines always produce a serious and deep wine. In 2018, it matured in French oak barrels for 11 months. This is very young and tender, expressive and aromatic, very much in line with the 2016. It has lots of energy and power, more than you might think, and it's serious. It's drinkable now, but it should get even better with some time in bottle. LUIS GUTIERREZ, wineadvocate.com

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3 BOTTLES AVAILABLE

Keeping the classical profile, the 2016 Clos Mogador has been fine tuned, reducing the French grapes, and it matured approximately 18 months in oak foudre and barriques. There is a lively sensation on the palate, vivacious and with very fine tannins. It has a meaty touch and feels really young , despite the long élevage. There is a strong mineral sensation on the palate, something that is a texture and mouthfeel rather than a flavor. This is an unusual, fresh vintage. LUIS GUTIERREZ, Robert Parker

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This estate is the home of Alvaro Palacios, the famed Priorat producer. Having formally departed Alfaro in 1989 in order to set up shop in Priorat, Alvaro 'returned' in 2000 following the death of his father, Jose, who set up the family business in 1945 and ran it from then on.

Under Jose, Palacios Remondo was a conventional Rioja of industrially-farmed Tempranillo expressed within the Crianza-Reserva-etctera model of production. In the years under Alvaro's guidance, the vineyards and wines have undergone extraordinary change. Nowadays the vineyards are bio-dynamically grown low-crop organic plantings of local Garnacha genetics, with a scattering of Viura.  Any Tempranillo in Palacios Remondo wines is purchased from good growers near Haro on the Ebro's north shore.

 

 

40% whole bunch, 12 days maceration, fermentation in stainless, 6 months lees-ageing in 2800 litre 'mud jars'. Slow, gentle elaboration yields a fluid, lively Mandó (with 30% Arco).

This is so beautifully balanced with bright fruit, creamy and crunchy acidity and delicate tannins. Full and compressed with very polished tannins that go on for minutes. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold. JAMES SUCKLING

Lanzaga a village wine, combining 35 plots, handled separately and blended after selection. Aged a year or so: half the wine matures in relatively neutral 1500-2000 litre wood; the rest in a mix of 225 and 600 litre barrels (at most 10% new oak).

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After devastating frost in 2017 and killer mildew in 2018, the vintage for the red 2019 Gaba do Xil Tinto from Valdeorras was healthier and the crop was good, save for some hail in specific vineyards during the summer. It was a ripe, healthy and balanced year. This is a young, unoaked Mencía with 13.44% alcohol that fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, where it matured for 12 months before bottling. It's intensely aromatic and expressive, varietal and with the wild rusticity of the zone. The palate is medium-bodied, with very fine tannins and a soft mouthfeel. 96,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in August 2020. LUIS GUTIRREZ, Robert Parker

On the nose, soft red fruits are alive with granite and herbs. All the key Valdeorras Mencia tells are here: floral-fragrant, touches of smoke and meat, gentle fruit tannin and a herb-acid tang to finish. Gaba is energetic and fresh, rounded with lovely crunch, featuring caponata-fleshiness and also a touch of cracked white pepper.

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This is a masterpiece of delicacy; open-hearted and lingering beautifully.
It smells of fennel, radish and quinine bark with a sweet-spice-squeak. Lean and lipstick-kissy, fine wild fennel sweetness repeats in the acid squeak at end.
It has excellent ripeness in harmony with fine structure and incredible freshness, but is super-lean in glycerol terms, and wonderfully fresh. SCOTT WASLEY

It's beautiful and poised. With air the aromatics soar, the florals and bright blue fruits reach out from the glass beckoning.
It feels soft and glossy on the palate but through that there is a vein of rocky minerality and super filigreed tannins hold the wines shape and draw out the flavour.
Slowly building and slowly finishing. It's long and there is so much woven through this gorgeous wine that I could taste and smell it all day long.
I believe it will age incredibly well on the pure harmony it displays now.
This is genuinely beautiful. ROSCOE

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More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Biurko Gorri sit in the far north-eastern corner of appellation Rioja, on the slopes of Monte Yoar in eastern Sierra Cantabria. These are organically grown vineyards lying in a rolling landscape at over 600m on poor limestone-clay soils. Bargota have been certified organic since 1998, hand-picking all their fruit.

That really is incredible to think and the quality shines here. This puts a lot of bottlings at the same or more to shame.

Soft and mineral, with a mix of red and dark fruit in a floral register. Open and expressive, with nutty tannins and a lick of spicy acidity.There are purple and blueberry aromas with savoury elements of dried lavender, heather and shaved nutmeg. The palate is clean, with refreshing natural acidity. Fruitfulness lengthens to a long, savoury earthen finish and the chalk soil is reflected in fine tannin.

Never heard of moristel? Well we can forgive you this time. This indigenous red is grown in Northern Spain, and is a bit of a hidden gem if you ask us.  Here 'Principio' means 'origin' or 'source', and here, it denotes a return to ones' roots by working with the local cultivar which is unique to the region.

There is a grenache-esq sensibility here with perhaps a little more dark fruited edge savoury notes. Smokey-woodsy red fruits, light charred chestnut leaves and fine sour cherry/dried cranberry lead you in. In the mouth its juicy and bright with a little fine, dark earth sprinkled around the edges of the crunchy fruit. Finishes with a little leafy, brambly kick and some nice supple tannins that draw it all in. Very cool.

1 BOTTLE AVAILABLE

A pretty nose of cassis, plums, raspberries, bark and sweet spices. Medium-bodied with sleek tannins. Round, plush and juicy with plenty of fruit and a spicy finish. A blend of garnacha, tempranillo and graciano. JAMES SUCKLING

This is a real treasure in the Nekeas Valley. Dwarf oak trees in the upper regions of the valley concealed small areas of Garnacha vineyards over 60 years old. The age of the vines are a result of years and years of selection based on the experience of wine growers who knew nothing about DNA, but knew what type of grape that ripened well in this extreme climate of the region, sometimes very harsh, so they decided to do the same thing that they had done before. They selected the vines that faired best of the years - "Cepa por Cepa" literally means "Vine by vine" and this is they worked.

They have essentially rescued an invaluable genetic gem that could otherwise have been lost forever and the result is a succulent and vibrant wine. We are thoroughly impressed!

Another great renditions here with wild strawberry, cherry and spice aromas that meet-and-greet with a welcoming smile. Its sits a nice middel-ground of serious looking grenache with some tight savoury tannins, finely sprinkled throught that lead into smoked herb-like savory finish. Freshness and vitality but with that staturated core of sweet red fruits that is ever appealing. Looking good.

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4 Kilos, the project created by Francesc Grimalt and Sergio Caballero as a scion of Ànima Negra in Mallorca in 2006 is the quality leader of the island. They have around 15 hectares of vineyards on the island, and many of the vines grow in what is locally known as "call vermell" soil (ferrous red clay with limestone and small to medium-size rocks). 2019 was a ripe and low-yielding vintage that delivered concentrated wines, while 2018 was more balanced and typically Mediterranean. 2019 was quite concentrated, a year with a lot of color and powerful wines. 2018 was much cooler, and the wines are fresher and transparent. In fact, 2018 seems like a superb vintage here, possibly the best they have produced to date. 2020 looks like a very good vintage, a year without much heat, wet and with some challenges and an early vintage. Luis Gutierrez, ROBERT PARKER

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More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

More product information will be added here soon! In the meantime, if you do have any questions at all about this product or others in our store, you can contact us by phone or email. Our friendly and experienced team are always happy to assist - we love drinking, selling, talking about and being in and around wine!

Algueira’s entry-level Mencía is drawn from the estate’s younger Mencía vines, which cling to Ribeira Sacra’s precipitous slate and schist slopes that rise from the river Sil. Where Algueira’s premium releases are whole bunch fermented and aged in oak, the grapes for this early release are destemmed and raised in stainless steel. It fermented with indigenous yeasts and saw 15 to 20 days of maceration. BIBENDUM

 

Merenzao is the same variety as Trousseau (and Bastardo in Portugal) and was probably brought to Ribeira Sacra by the Cistercian monks who set up camp here in the Middle Ages. Algueira’s Merenzao vines have an average age of 80 years and are rooted in a steep slope of gneiss, quartz and slate in the Amandi Gorge. The fruit sees a wild yeast, 100% whole-bunch ferment, is pressed by foot and aged for 12 months in old oak and some local chestnut vessels.

The result is an extraordinary, unique wine with a complex perfume of finely detailed fruit characters that recalls wild cherry steeped with blood orange, rose and a tincture of wild herb. There’s more colour and muscular density from the solar year, yet it remains super lucid and tender and finishes long, leaving behind a lick of elegant tannin and a perfume of sweet red berries and smoky minerals. This is one tasty Bastardo!

The 2020 Finca Capeliños comes from a warm year, but the grapes have been harvested earlier in recent years to achieve moderate alcohol and macerations have been shortened to get wines that are more elegant and harmonious. The 2020s are quite open and expressive, and the Capeliños displays impressive notes of violet pastille and a faintly Mediterranean note of aromatic herbs. (96) LUIS GUTIERREZ

This is from a plot planted with the classical field blend found in the old vineyards, mainly Mencía with a myriad of other varieties-Caíño, Sousón, Brancellao, Merenzao, Negreda, Garnacha, Mouratón... The full clusters fermented with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in 225- and 500-liter oak barrels for one year. This is explosive with a baroque, exotic and decadent nose redolent of flowers, soy sauce, violet pastille, spices and herbs. It's a little spirity (it's 14.2% alcohol), which probably adds to the showy profile. The palate is a little more backward-it's structured and has abundant, fine tannins, still a little hard. 800 bottles produced. (97+) LUIS GUTIERREZ

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Village wine. Suertes del Marqués village red is a blend of Listán Negro and Tintilia. The style of García’s entry-level red has evolved considerably since the early days. Today it’s a prettier, lighter-bodied and more thirst-quenching wine. The main component remains the wildly aromatic Listán Negro with a small portion of Tintilia, entirely fermented in small tanks with indigenous yeast and a short, gentle maceration.

The name refers to the seven climats in the D.O. of Valle de la Orotava. Today Suertes draws the raw materials from 35 separate plots, from vines ranging from 10 to 100 years old, at a range of altitudes (up to 800 metres) on the slopes of Mount Teide. The Listán Negro is grown mainly in cordón trenzado, while the Tintilia (from the Bocanegra plot) is trellised to the espaldera system. Each parcel begins vinification separately in stainless steel before blending and aging in small concrete tanks (70%) and mature French demi-muids (30%).

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The red 2020 Bhilar is quite unusual, with a minty/herbal nose unlike any other vintage before. It comes from their biodynamically farmed vineyards in a very challenging vintage. I think this is the wine that suffered the most. 10,000 bottles. LUIS GUTIERREZ, Wine Advocate.