A blend of 95% Tinto Fino and 5% Merlot, the Valbuena 5° takes its name from the village where it is produced. It is aged for less time than the ‘Unico’ or the Reserva Especial with the 5° designating the years it has been aged before release. The wine is made from younger vines (average vine age of 25 – 20 years), although their aggregate age would compete with most other leading wines.

It has a similar blend to its older brother ‘Unico’ and the Valbuena 5° is best thought of as a younger sibling. The nose shows damsons and plums and is quite floral with violet undertones. The palate is bursting with flavours: forest fruit and red cherries are underpinned by vibrant acidity. The tannins are ripe and sinewy but have a firm grip. Complex and complete. The 2009 is probably the best vintage of Valbuena we have tasted to date. It shows precision and focus but also conveys the richness, concentration and freshness of this great vintage.
Stuart Rae - Private Account Manager

A classic Rioja blend with Tempranillo in the ascendency, and a nose crammed full of red fruit, vanilla pod and clove. The palate reveals finely structured tannins and layered fruit. 
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

Bodegas Muga was founded in Haro in 1932 and is still in family ownership, farming an impressive 250 hectares in La Rioja Alta. The winery is located in Haro’s golden triangle of bodegas, its immediate neighbours being La Rioja Alta and López de Heredia. The extended Muga family controls all aspects of the production and advocates the complexity afforded by the entire canon of grapes: Tempranillo, of course, but also Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano for the reds, in addition to Viura and Malvasia for the whites. The key to everything is wood, from the magnificent 18th century wooden bodega to the impressive collection of 14,000 barrels used for the maturation. Organic viticulture is also fundamental here and the resulting wines are pure, linear of structure and memorable.

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. Until 31st August 2017 this product is discounted by 21%. Prices shown include discount; no further discount will be applied at checkout.

The combination of Vega Sicilia and Rioja is, of course, alluring. The fact that Vega have been secretly buying up top plots around the village of San Vincente de la Sonsierra for over ten years adds a note of intrigue to the story and the fact that they now own 120 hectares, stretched over the border of Riojas Altas and Alavasa, makes for a most satisfactorily dénouement.

The input of winemaker Xavier Ausas has, as always, been invaluable and the philosophy has drawn on eclectic influences and specifically the partnership between Pablo Alvarez and Benjamin de Rothschild. The influence of the latter is hard to avoid; the wood is all French and the wines are bottled by lot, separating the first (Macan) from the second wine (Macan Clasico) in the Bordelais fashion. Most importantly, however, the wines are 100% Tempranillo and never lose sight of provenance.
 
The senior wine has been matured for 15 months in French oak, 70% new and 30% one year-old. The elegance and linear dexterity of traditional Riojas has been cleverly captured in this subtle nuanced example, its velvety texture and fine tannins recalling, appropriately enough, Bordeaux, but its savoury generous flavour offering a melliferous hymn to the greater glories of the finest Tempranillo.
Simon Field MW – Wine Buyer

The Especial suffix is used sparingly in Spain, so we can rely on its value. Herewith a case in point; made from 78% Tinto Fino and 22% Cabernet Sauvignon, the 2009 has been aged in Alier oak for 20 months, and is a delight from start to finish. As with all truly fine wine, it is quite subtle initially, its attack hardly meriting such a noun, its evanescent floral elegance underwritten by hints of aniseed and blackcurrant leaf. Self-assured and dignified, this is an outstanding effort.
Simon Field MW, Wine Buyer

Hacienda Monasterio is one of the great names in Ribera del Duero. Located between the villages of Pesquera de Valbuena del Duero on the so-called Golden Mile, the estate covers 170 hectares, its vines all north-south facing, with plots of Cabernet, Merlot and Malbec complementing the Tinto Fino. Peter Sissac, who actually lives on the estate, is consultant winemaker here and it should therefore come as no huge surprise that the quality of the wines is of the highest rank. The wines (only crianza and reserva wines are produced) are matured in one-year old Bordeaux casks and the wines are consistently amongst the region’s finest.

Viña Real is usually seen as the Burgundy to Imperial’s Bordeaux, evidenced aesthetically by the shape of the bottle and, more profoundly, by gustatory differences relating to tannic structure and provenance of fruit.  The blend here is 90 percent Tempranillo and 10 percent Garnacha; the perfume is classic Viña Real, with an ethereal elegance and robust spicy notes. The palate is velvety and plush, all in all a luxuriant Rioja from an excellent vintage, which along with 2004 and 2001, ranks among the best of the decade in question.
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer

Violets and lavender dominate the nose of this mighty wine. Its palate is tannic and powerful, as is the norm in Toro, but not without silky elegance too, with notes of tobacco, macerated plum and tapenade all vying for attention. Long and harmonious, this will be more than a match for even the most robust of Iberian dishes.
Simon Field MW - Wine Buyer

Numanthia is a patchwork of ancient vineyards in Toro, touched by extreme climate conditions and also by the boundless benevolence of LVMH’s ownership, which has reinvigorated the estate and confirmed its place very close to the top of Spain’s vinous hierarchy.

A blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Cabernet-Sauvignon and aged in oak for 16 months, the nose of this wine is floral yet profound and fruit-driven with notes of damson, blackcurrant and cherry. The palate is far more mineral than the nose indicates, with great structure based on firm but fine-grained tannins and harmonious acidity. The wine is still in its youth and will develop for a few years yet in bottle. 
Nick Stewart Wine Buying