Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

Medium ruby in colour, Amézola’s 2015 Crianza has really good structure. Fine-grained tannins are complemented by oozing dark blackberry fruit and lifted by red fruit freshness which mirrors the elegant nose. As a Crianza, this wine has been aged for 15 months in oak (60 percent American and 40 percent French). This gives the wine hints of vanilla spice and nutmeg which are beautifully combined with generous, ripe fruit notes. Ready to drink now, try this with charcuterie or roast pork belly.
Lucy Bland, Buying Assistant

This is Rioja – but not as you know it. Made from over 90 percent Garnacha and from the Rioja Oriental at the easternmost point of this region, it is pure, elegant and utterly drinkable. The unique freshness in this wine comes from the fascinating La Montesa vineyard which is planted at 550 metres’ altitude in the foothills of Mt Yerga. In addition to this, the purity and richness of sweet red and black berry fruit is testament to the huge amount of focus and attention that the famed Álvaro Palacios and his team put into each of the vines throughout the growing season. This is a Rioja that will not cloud your sense on the first sip, but instead will leave them invigorated and intrigued.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer

This Crianza spends 13 months gently maturing in barrel, then a further year in bottle prior to release. It displays ripe fruit notes while remaining remarkably fresh thanks to the region’s significant diurnal shift. Deep ruby in colour, the wine offers aromas of black cherry, blackcurrant, forest fruits and fresher raspberry notes alongside subtle hints of cedar and nutmeg. On the palate, it is fleshy but structured, with a finesse and silkiness that lingers on the finish. Ready to drink now.
Lucy Bland, Assistant Buyer

 Amézola de la Mora is a small family-owned estate in Rioja Alavesa run by sisters Cristina and María Amézola. When they took on the winery after their father’s death (1999), they were the youngest wine-producers in the region. They have done an outstanding job of combining tradition and innovation.

This is a classic Rioja, medium ruby with an intense nose of black cherry, damson and fresher notes of raspberry, complemented by exceptionally well-integrated notes of toasty vanilla and baking spices, a result of the 22 months spent in both French and American oak. Fine-grained tannins melt in the mouth for a smooth finish. Drink now to 2021.

Bodegas Muga is one of the great names of Rioja, located in the centre of Haro, a stone’s throw from López de Heredia and La Rioja Alta. Founded in 1932, Muga remains family owned. This wine is a superb effort from the warm 2009 vintage, sitting happily alongside the best Prado Eneas.

The nose reveals a wealth of hedgerow and forest fruits muddled together with notes of sweet spice and vanillin. Underneath sits a core of dense, ripe blackberry and mulberry fruit. The palate is characterised by a beautiful silkiness, ripe yet gradually building tannins provide structure for the richness of the blackberry, wild strawberry and damson fruit. Full and rich with great power, held together by the wine’s underlying freshness, this is an almost hedonistic Prado Enea which will develop into a beauty over the coming decade and beyond. Drink 2020-2032+.

The 2013 vintage was tricky in Ribera del Duero but Alión is a triumph. Sweet red Victoria plum notes on the nose are allied with a gentle strawberry perfume. This sweet strawberry and cranberry character continues on the palate but is held in check by the high level of very fine tannins which add precision and focus. This is a pretty, elegant Alión with much more subtlety than the 2012. It would be gorgeous to drink soon and will mellow even more over the next 10 years. Drink now to 2024.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer

Bin end – limited quantities at a discounted price.

If Calvario is Miguel Ángel’s Burgundy then his Bordeaux is this polymesmeric effort, Aurus. Made from 85% Tempranillo and 15% Mazuelo, this has been aged in new oak for 24 months. Already it is harmonious on the palate, with dark commanding fruits, hints of raisin and liquorice, and very firmly managed tannins. It is persistent and bristling with potential.
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer

Finca Allende, the estate created by brother and sister team Mercedes and Miguel Ángel de Gregorio, is located in the hill town of Briones in the Rioja Alta. ‘Allende’ can be roughly translated as ‘further’; its philosophy being to go further and further towards creating the perfect Rioja. This has been done by marrying the old and the new, by embracing the traditional grape varieties but then treating them to new French oak.

Following a vintage as profound as 2004, 2005 has come as a very pleasant surprise.  Many Spanish producers have on the whole been cautiously subdued regarding the 2005 vintage, partly due to wariness of declaring back to back exceptional vintages.  Although slightly different in style to the 2004, this new 2005 release is arguably its equal.  There is less structure, and more finesse but it is exactly what we now expect from this wonderful Gran Reserva.  A sweet, dark cherry and wild raspberry core is bolstered by that classic creaminess to the fruit.  There’s the classic vanilla, and sweet spice hints that you’d expect but this is tempered by fine acidity, very clean and fresh, serious precision for a wine of this style.  Light on its feet right across the long palate, but not at the expense of vibrancy; this can be enjoyed direct from release or cellared for the long term.  One only has to look at the cost of mature vintages (’94, ’85, ‘82) to see the benefit of buying at first release.   
Martyn Rolph - Private Account Manager

One of Rioja’s signature wines and certainly the most distinctive label from Muga, Prado Enea is aged for seven years in a combination of vat, cask and bottle, its 2006 manifestation cleaving the traditional to the modern with powerful French oak tannins framing a magnificent savoury personality. An almost meaty vitality and more than a whiff of wood-smoke underlines the individuality of this truly great wine, its dark fruit core enhanced by notes of tobacco box and the kitchen garden.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

There is something completely ethereal about the nose of this Valbuena. 2011 was a cooler year and, to my mind, this has played to the strengths of this terroir. The wine is beautifully fragrant with layers and layers of lifted red and black fruit. Sweet cranberries and raspberries entwine with freshly picked blackberries on the palate and a lovely sense of freshness pervades the whole. The tannins are fine yet pert, indicating the potential for this to age gracefully, and the length is impressive.  It is the combination of all of this, combined with the sheer sophistication of this wine, that makes it a truly special Valbuena. Drink 2017-2030.
Catriona Felstead MW, Spain Buyer

Produced from 100% Tempranillo, the 2011 Valbuena is immediately striking on the nose with a floral bouquet of wild roses and black raspberry leaf. Underneath sits a core of beautifully defined cool red fruits; plums and cherries spring to mind. Graceful on the palate with a sleek texture, flavours of forest fruits and bramble are evident amongst a slightly richer note of milk chocolate coated red berries. There is a remarkable freshness here, neatly encompassing the ripe and grippy tannins which support in the background. This younger brother of ‘Unico’ is cool, elegant and supremely well balanced, moving with great focus and structure through to a long and rewarding finish. A truly delicious wine which should not be overlooked, allow a couple of years for this beauty to evolve and enjoy from 2018 – 2028+.
Chris Lamb, Private Account Manager

The sun baked vineyards of Toro provide no lac k of ripe and textured fruit – brooding blackberry and plum. The challenge here is to match the superb concentration with freshness and finesse – something that 2011 Pintia achieves with unerring ease. Full bodied and dense with notes of liquorice, scorched earth, and savoury smoky/nutty oak characters. The acidity and fine grained tannins add a sense of succulence and precision. A robust, impressive red with more than a hint of class.
Martyn Rolph - Private Account Manager

Vivid red. The nose displays an array of ripe red fruits, pungent flowers and exotic spices, with vanilla bean and coconut accents building with air. Sweet, broad and luscious, offering intense cherry-vanilla and raspberry liqueur flavors that deepen on the back half. Shows excellent depth as well as finesse, with velvety tannins adding shape to the very long, gripping finish. This suave, seamless Rioja spent six years in American oak barrels. Drink 2019 - 2026
93/100 points, Josh Raynolds, vinous.com, Nov 2015

La Poza de Ballesteros, the second of the three single vineyard sites faces Valdeginés in the San Ginés Valley, its west exposition engendering a wine with a different character, firmer, denser and with more stentorian tannins.

Biurco is a vineyard that we have enjoyed visiting over the years; it has a tranquillity and beauty and, predominately west-facing, is particularly attractive in the evening. The soil is homogenised clay and limestone, and the wine is marked by the charm of its aromas; violets, truffles and dark chocolate to name but three. If its stablemate Valdeparasio is linear, this wine is more fleshy and noted for both the sweetness of fruit on the palate and the power on the finish with layers of sumptuous ripe red cherry, fresh strawberry and vanilla new oak. Drink 2018-2029

The 2011 Reserva continues the fine run of form at Hacienda Monasterio, the wines are now consistently amongst the finest of Ribera del Duero. Whilst the core is dark and concentrated, this is a wine full of aromatic expression with a nose featuring floral and violet notes alongside meaty, savoury characters. The palate continues in the same vein, dark and rich but with no lack of finesse; fine acidity and fine, velvety tannins create a juiciness and linear flow. Very complete and beautifully harmonious. Drink 2016 - 2026