Tempranillo/Tinto Fino

Our 2015 vintage Rioja continues the excellent work done by sisters Maria and Cristina Amezola de la Mora. More structured than previous vintages, the wine oozes dark blackberry fruit, lifted by red fruit freshness. However, this is no simple Crianza: a dollop of Reserva wine adds a serious touch. It is long, delicious and extremely moreish.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer 

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

Beautifully scented, this wine has bright red cherry aromas alongside a fresh beetroot character. Vibrant and refreshing, it has lovely concentration with crunchy red fruit, hedgerow and earthy notes alongside fine, yet pert, tannins. This is a fascinating wine which clearly displays the delicate and individual character of the Mencía grape. Drink now to 2019.
Catriona Felstead MW - Wine Buyer, June 2017

The Macán Clásico just gets better year on year. This is a high-quality, classic style of Rioja, punching above its price-point. A gentle nose of soft spice and blackberry fruit gives way to a core of dark hedgerow berry fruit with a dollop of sweet, almost caramelised vanilla. It is the depth of fruit that is impressive for a wine of this level; grainy yet structured, it is multi-layered with subtle elegance. This is an extremely sophisticated Clásico and really puts this wine on the map. Drink now to 2024.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer

Another great success from Rioja Alta.  The nose is full of leather and all spice, very attractive and alluring notes that keep making me go back for more and more.  The palate is very fresh and tightly wound and even though the wine is deceptively juicy and flowing across the palate.  This effortlessness belies the fact that one should keep for at least another 3 – 5 years.  There is a real finesse here added to the understated richness and complexity from the barrel aging. A truly lovely wine.
Simon Field, MW - Wine Buyer

PIntia is wonderful in 2013. It was a lighter vintage in general but this has really brought out the elegance of this wine, so often swathed in structure and tannins. There is a gentle touch of ripe blueberry alongside the ripe raspberry on the nose, yet the core of the wine is rich and dark. The tannins are still definitely in evidence; they have a tissue-like quality yet are also firm. They have been extremely well managed. A savoury, tasty mineral freshness comes through, leaving the palate wanting more. There is a gentleness to this Pintia which is extremely attractive with all the power still there, just held well in check. This is a truly lovely wine. Pintia: tamed. Drink now to 2025.
Catriona Felstead MW, Wine Buyer

One of Cillar de Silos’s best yet, the 2015 Viña de Amalio offers a perfume of black raspberry leaf and a core of red plums and damson fruit. Gentle aeration brings further complexities with notes of sweet earth and spices. Perfectly aligned silky tannins caress the palate, laden with flavours of wild raspberry and blackberries, complemented by attractive clove and chocolate notes. Powerful yet restrained, there’s depth and volume across the palate, and proof that all the components are working in harmony as you are left with a moreish finish of well-defined fruit and an elegant freshness. A wine of great stature which will only get better, I’d recommend leaving this for a few years and enjoy from 2021 to 2032.
Chris Lamb, Private Account Manager

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 two key features in this Selección Especial are the 20% of Garnacha, which adds warm and generous fruit to the ensemble but also the almost opposing influence of the exemplary 2010 vintage itself which lends a cool linear character to the wine. Aged for 26 months in locally coopered barrels, the 2010 is poised and supremely elegant, its red and black fruits dancing a measured pas de deux across the palate.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

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

El Carretil is a richer wine, more densely textured, with notes of mocha and blueberry evidenced on the nose. The fruit character is etched with lapidary care and the finish has poise, freshness and length. 
Simon Field -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.

The jewel in the crown of this remarkable estate. This outstanding Rioja shows the full potential of the Tempranillo grape, with a tiny amount of Garnacha, for flesh and meatiness. A soaring nose of perfume, strawberries, raspberries and vanilla, combined perfectly with tilled earth, roasted meats and cinnamon. The palate has exceptional power, yet perfect poise, which is always the sign of a great wine: layers and layers of fruit develop on the palate, which is at the same time spicy and savoury. Eventually the soft, smooth weight gives way to an ethereal, fine, yet driven finish of bright acidity, fine tannins and delicate flavours of rosemary and red fruits. 
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer

Following on from the huge success of the 2012 Spanish Gold offer, the team at Berry Bros. & Rudd knew that we would have to find some truly outstanding new wines to better the offer in 2013. Fortunately we have done just that and are very proud to present our latest, major Rioja producer, Bodega Contador. The property was founded as recently as 1995, but the fact that it has become one of Rioja’s most respected wineries in such a relatively short time, is testament to its superb terroir and the brilliant wine making skill of proprietor Benjamin Romeo. Starting off with an awe inspiring cellar hewn into the rock beneath the Castle of San Vicente de la Sonsierra, finding extra space in his parents’ garage, where he crafted the stunning 2004 and 2005 vintages, which both received 100 points from the Wine Advocate. In 2008 Benjamin completed his new, state of the art winery, built into the hills of Rioja surrounded by his vineyards. Benjamin’s wine making is relatively modern, with individual vineyard plots farmed to very small yields and vinified separately, before ageing for a comparatively short 18-20 months in new French oak (as opposed to the traditional American oak). The results are extraordinary.

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