1981 Portugal

Torresilo is a powerful, old-vine Tempranillo from outstanding vineyard plots in the Ribera del Duero and it spends 16 months in new French oak barrels. A further interesting piece of trivia to ponder as one pours a generous glass of this deep, dark and broodingly powerful wine is that some of the vines which offer up their fruit are on pre-phylloxera rootstock.

This is sure to raise a few eyebrows amongst the hardened oenophiles among you and is perhaps worth tasting for that reason alone! However that would do the wine a disservice, as the ripe damson, nutmeg and mocha aromas hold great promise which is fulfilled by a palate, generous and elegant yet restrained. The finish is mineral and leaves the drinker with questions that can only be answered by pouring another glass.
Nicholas Stewart - Wine Buying Department

Artadi El Pison, this unassuming 1945 vineyard, with its rather modest pad-locked gate and purely functional hut at its centre, does not immediately announce itself as the most celebrated vineyard in Spain.

One taste, however, confirms this fact. Aromatically complex, civilized and life-affirming, the wine opens up on the palate with great confidence, precision and density. Dark fruit, spice and hints of pepper at this early stage, but very very fine supporting tannins and incredible length.

Juan Carlos Lopez compares it to 2007, but feels that it is a shade riper and may have an even longer life. We also see a resemblance to the superb 2004, which is now approaching a second phase of excellence.

The smallest and highest of Artadi's single vineyards, Montes El Carretil is marked by deep penetrating roots and a distinctive clay-sandstone soils. This Rioja wine is rich, energetic and dense, with very marked tannins at the moment and a fine mineraldriven finish. Notes of scorched earth, spice and black olive. A wine described by Juan Carlos Lopez, with no shortage of resonance, as ‘full of soul and life’. Sounds even better in Spanish…

Alión was the first 100 percent Tinto Fino wine aged in 100 percent new oak in Ribera del Duero. The winemaking is innovative and independent; ageing takes place in new French oak and the end result is a wine bursting with fruit (red and black) but simultaneously demonstrating a parental level of restraint which will see it age wonderfully in the cellar. This is a connoisseur’s wine which requires patience but will be hugely rewarding for those who can remain steadfast in the face of temptation. 
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer

Bodegas Alión was formed in 1986 as a winery to be run independently to its big brother, the great Vega Sicilia. This 85-hectare estate was founded by the Álvarez family to provide a modern expression of Ribero del Duero. 35 hectares of the estate is located around the winery, with a further 50 hectares dedicated to Alión within the historic Vega Sicilia vineyards. Unlike Vega Sicilia, where we find a merging of the traditional and modern winemaking techniques, Alión is made using state-of-the-art equipment. Forward and uncompromising, these are wines of impressive stature and show an alternative side of Tinto Fino (Tempranillo).

The maiden 2009 Valdegines is sourced from a seven-hectare plot located on clay-limestone soils, one of three hitherto blended into the Pagos Viejos. It has a very pure, rounded, blackberry, cassis and cedar-scented nose that is reminiscent of a very young, fine Saint Emilion. The palate is medium-bodied with black cherry, licorice and cedar on the entry. There is patently a lot of cedary new oak that needs to be subsumed into the wine, and the finish is severe and tannic at present.

Artadi was one of several imperative visits during my visit to Rioja, where I met respected winemaker Juan Carlos Lopez de Lacalle. His wines need little introduction, having already garnered glowing reviews in this publication and elsewhere. But what I was interested in discovering was whether Rioja can really exploit the minutiae of its multifarious terroirs and offer genuine nuances in a similar fashion to Burgundy or the Mosel (to give but two examples of regions where place is everything). If there is one man who lives by that philosophy, it is Juan Carlos, who oversees a coveted range of modern style Rioja that receive a generous amount of new French oak. Let us commence with the entry-level Vinas de Gain red and white. The Viura is harvested separately from Juan Carlos's intermixed vineyard and is fermented in 500-liter French oak barrels and kept in stainless steel tanks on the lees with three of four lees-stirring.
Neal Martin - Wine Advocate #202 Aug 2012