2015 Spain

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

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

The 2015 Finca Dofi also has a wonderful fragrance but is a very different expression to the Gratallops. Macerated red fruit dominates here bringing a richness and a luscious quality to the wine. The mouthfeel is concentrated and sensual yet the wine is still incredibly fresh with classic Priorat notes of nectarine, pomegranate and grapefruit peel adding a lively vibrancy. The brown slate of Finca Dofi makes it the warmest site of the single vineyard wines, and it really is rather gorgeous.
Catriona Felstead MW, Spanish Buyer

Alvaro Palacios is one of the world’s great winemakers, crowned both 2015 Decanter Man of the Year & Winemaker’s Winemaker by the Institute of Masters of Wine most recently. Alvaro spent 2 years at Petrus before setting up on his own in Priorat in 1989, his wines are now consistently excellent and in the past few years have found a further level of refinement and elegance, they have found yet another gear.

Valdegines is the vineyard which provides striking aromatics and wonderful purity and definition.  A Plump texture and silky feel – not the most structured of the Artadi offerings, but shows the mineral elegance of the vineyard.

The 2015 Valdegines is an excellent demonstration of the angular, structured character that this vineyard brings. Sweet, blue and black berry fruits dominate the nose with an earthy, hedgerow note behind. The lovely generosity of fruit character is evident but this is also a tightly structured wine with solid foundations of fine but grainy tannins. The finish has a savoury note of smoked meats but the freshness comes through bringing harmony to the whole. This is the least expensive of the Artadi single vineyard wines but it certainly has the structure to go a long way. Drink 2020-2028+.
Catriona Felstead MW, Spain Buyer


Juan Carlos Lopez de Lacaille, owner and winemaker of Artadi, is recognised as one of the greatest names in the business in Spain.  The winery was once a co-operative of 13 growers who owned well-sited vineyards around the town of Laguardia in the Alavesa wine region of Rioja.  Juan Carlos saw the potential of these wonderful vineyards and purchased the Bodega, immediately amending the philosophy and style of winemaking.  The work being done here underlines the quality of the soils and demonstrates once again how Rioja is ripe (no pun intended) for a qualitative reappraisal at the top end.  These wines sit very comfortably at the vinous top table.

The signature notes of the 2015 Artadi single vineyard wines are the exceptionally sweet red and black fruit notes from the hot days in July alongside the wonderful freshness and balance provided by the slow end to the ripening period. This is a fantastic range of wines.

Torresilo is one of Cillar de Cilos’s most treasured wines – and it’s easy to see why. Old-vine Tempranillo (some pre-Phylloxera) lends this wine immense concentration and generosity of fruit. This wine oozes layers of dark fruit notes of blackberry, damson and cherry, complimented by subtle nutmeg and cedar (the result of 16 months in French barriques). The ripe and velvety tannins contribute to the intense, mineral finish. 
Lucy Bland, Wine Buyer

Suave, supple and beautifully poised, this is very fresh but very fine with enticing, open, generous fruit. The limestone soil shines through in this very pure, linear expression of Rioja. This is a focused wine but one which is already very appealing with mouthcoating notes of raspberries and strawberries, all offset by a long, refreshing finish. Drink 2019-2025.
Catriona Felstead MW, Spain Buyer, October 2017

Fresh, very pure fruit dominates this wine, with an attack of almost strawberry coulis notes, broadening out into darker cherries and bramble fruit. The richer, red soils here give a gorgeous succulence to the wine, with a top note of sweet cranberries yet a fine backbone and poise. This is a really beautiful wine. Drink 2020-2028.
Catriona Felstead MW, Spain Buyer, October 2017