Wine Advocate (93)

2017 was an unusually short crop as a result of terrible frost in April 2017, when thermometers reached -10 degrees Celsius in some places. The 2017 Pícaro del Águila Tinto, their entry-level and most approachable red, was seriously affected, of course. They lost some 60% of the volume, but the wine is incredible for the condition of the year. It feels a little more mysterious, not as expressive or open, a bit reductive perhaps, but the aromas are clean and don't show any excess ripeness. They did an amazing job eliminating all the raisins that didn't make it into the fermentation vat, and the extra workload has clearly paid off. The wine has some grip and fine, chalky tannins. 17,025 bottles and 487 magnums produced. It was bottled unfiltered and unfined and with just a little sulfur added in October 2018 after 12 months in oak barrels.

Wine Advocate (94+)

The youngest of the reds I tasted, the 2019 Pícaro del Águila Tinto is their most approachable red and is still serious, vibrant and aromatic with great length and still has good aging potential. They use the grapes from the warmest vineyards they have in the village of La Aguilera, form the northern part closer to La Horra, mostly Tempranillo but with some 5% of other varieties (red and white) interplanted in the old vineyards, fermented together with full clusters and indigenous yeasts and matured in French oak barrels for 15 months. Like the 2019 Clarete, this is young and tender and has more tension than I expected for a warmer year. It has less oak than previous years (only 10% or 15% new barrels), and the wine feels better balanced and is floral and aromatic. It's medium-bodied with a very fine texture, a pretty wine that drinks very well and doesn't reflect a warm year at all, as it has incredible freshness. A great Pícaro. They produced 69,852 bottles and 850 magnums, a notable increase in volume... while they increase the quality! It was bottled in February 2021.

Wine Advocate (95)

The juicy, velvety and aromatic red 2020 Pícaro del Águila Tinto is fine-boned and quite faithfully represents what they want to express with this cuvée; it's very tasty and has some chalkiness (perhaps through less ripeness than in years like 2018) with 14% alcohol and mellow acidity. The nose reveals some Côte-Rôtie-like notes of smoked meat and violets. 2020 delivered a good crop of healthy grapes that produced the finest wine to date for this bottling. This is superb, elegant and powerful, with everything in place (seems to be the signature of 2020) and perfectly integrated oak. 71,382 bottles and 1,979 magnums produced. It was bottled in September 2021.

Wine Advocate (94)

The 2022 Pícaro del Águila Tinto has similar parameters to the 2021 (14% alcohol), but the sensation is of higher ripeness. Surprisingly enough, it has a lower pH than the 2021 I tasted next to it; they used more white to give it freshness and more of the other varieties. It has chalky, dry tannins, reflecting the terroir more, which is remarkable for such a warm and dry year. This is more serious, and the 2021 is more approachable. A triumph over the vintage. 61,757 bottles and 1,979 magnums produced. It was bottled in January 2024.

Wine Advocate (100)

I was really looking forward to the bottled version of the 2018 Pingus after a great showing of the cask sample last year. Part of the wine matured in 20,000-liter oak casks, so it's not all barrique. This is the first time they used the vats, and based on the results, Sisseck thinks in the future Pingus will be around 50% in oak vats. The Pingus vines were planted in 1929 in two different sectors of the village of La Horra, Barroso and San Cristobal and contain some 2% other varieties. The vineyards are certified organic and biodynamic and are manicured like few vineyards in Spain. The wine is subtle and harmonious, elegant and insinuating, with all the components in very good balance. This is precise and pure; Sisseck is thorough and meticulous, and the wine shows that precision. This follows the line of the 2016, showing very well even if it was bottled only one month before I tasted it. 9,300 bottles were filled in August 2020.

James Suckling (95)

Almost black-purple color. Dense black fruits aromas, fine oak and elegant dry tannins that are beautifuly integrated in the rich body. The long finish is already graceful thanks to the spot-on balance. Drink now.

Vinous (95)

Deep violet. Smoke- and spice-accented dark berries and cherry on the highly perfumed nose. Lively bitter cherry, blueberry and violet pastille flavors stain the palate, showing fine definition and a supporting spine of tangy acidity. Opens up and deepens on the strikingly long, incisive finish, which features gently chewy tannins and lingering florality.

Decanter (96)

In the shadow of Pingus? Only, perhaps, if you taste it after the grand vin, because Flor de Pingus is another haute-couture masterpiece in its own right, again with that highly polished tannic texture and layers of dark but succulent and perfectly ripe mulberry fruit, suggestions of something darker and savoury emerging, but for now this is just a gloriously sensual young wine with a pronounced sense of place. Biodynamic.

Wine Advocate (98)

The eponymous red 2022 Ponce was produced with 80% Bobal from granite soils and 20% Moravia Agria from limestone and clay. It fermented with 100% full clusters in open-top 4,500-liter oak vats and finished fermenting and aging in a single 7,000-liter oak vat for 11 months. It has 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.6 with 5.7 grams of acidity. This has something in common with the La Estrecha from this same vintage, with a more ethereal profile, both with changes in the élevage toward larger volumes that give the wines more relaxed, less tight personalities. Complete, balanced and harmonious from very early on, this is a great vintage for this wine. 7,000 bottles were filled in September 2023.

Tim Atkin MW (95)

Pujanza wasn't hit by the hail that affected Rioja in 2017, but this is still a pretty concentrated number, made entirely from Tempranillo grown at 630 metres and aged in 25% new wood. Chalky, dense and youthful, it's a wine that's made to mature in bottle, combining intensity with focus, freshness and serious tannins

Wine Advocate (94+)

The single-vineyard red 2018 Finca Valdepoleo follows the line of the 2016, two cooler years. It's a fairly large plot that was planted in 1973 in the village of Laguardia on limestone and clay soils at 630 meters in altitude. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and also with some stems (something they don't normally do), and it matured in French oak barrels for one year. The finesse of this wine captured me, and I believe this is the finest vintage for this vineyard bottling. When I poured the whole range and had a quick look at all the wines, this one made me raise my eyebrows. It's elegant, subtle and pure, floral and aromatic, really expressive and captivating. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine tannins and nicely integrated oak. It's a modern version of the 2013. Truly outstanding. 60,000 bottles produced.

Tim Atkin MW (97)

The vines are still comparatively young at 19 years' old, but Norte, located at 730 metres on the slopes of the Sierra de Cantabria, is one of Rioja's greatest parcels. Influenced by the presence of limestone close to the surface, this is a thrilling Tempranillo that's taut, chalky and chiselled with serious, ageworthy tannins, sappy acidity and layers of red berry and black cherry fruit. 2025-35

Decanter (96)

Part of an accomplished range of Riojas from Laguardia producer Pujanza, this 100% Viura is grown on the small 3.5ha limestone vineyard of San Juan de Anteportalatina at 600m. This terroir produces a distinctive and distinguished white, with layered aromas, savoury notes, fresh lemon, preserved lemon, a touch of salinity, and stony minerality. Rioja's answer to white Burgundy: elegant, mineral, toasty, buttery, citrus, with real verve - a seam of focused acidity. Vibrant finish, long and layered with fresh grapefruit, saltiness, toasted nuts. Aged for 12 months in French oak and concrete. Limited production.

Wine Advocate (98)

The single-vineyard Sorte O Soro had not been produced since 2016, and the 2019 Sorte O Soro is the next vintage after that. This plot has always shown additional elegance, freshness and salinity since he started vinifying it in 2004, because of the altitude (710 meters above sea level) and the north exposure to the Bibei Valley, where the old clone is planted on fine granite sand and quartz soils. Like As Sortes, this Sorte also fermented and matured with lees in new 500-liter French oak barrels for eight months. It has 14% alcohol with a pH of 3.12 and higher acidity (at 7.5 grams) than the rest of the 2019s. It feels very harmonious, elegant and nuanced with some creaminess, with notes of wet pollen and yellow flowers. The palate reflects the soil, with vibrant granite and very fine sand and electric quartz (saline), and it's also round and powerful from the clone that is planted in the vineyard. This vineyard is in the process of being organically and biodynamically certified. 2,240 bottles were filled in September 2020. I tasted the 2019s and 2020s from Rafa Palacios in Valdeorras. For him, these are two very good years. 2019 had a mild and dry winter and a rainy and cold spring that delayed budding, followed by a mild summer with fewer hours of sunshine, which meant a delay in the ripening process. Harvest was more than one month later than usual, and the grapes achieved very slow ripening and full development of aromas and flavors while keeping the acidity. The harvest started in October and finished in November. It's a beautiful, homogeneous vintage with very good wines. 2020 saw a moderately cool and rainy winter and a dry and cold spring that resulted in 20% less bunches than in 2019. The summer was also quite dry but, fortunately, not too hot. Given the low yields, maturation was accelerated, and the harvest began at the beginning of September for Louro and from September 25th for As Sortes. Given the scarce water, the plants had to work harder deep down into the soil, which marked the wines; the silica and quartz from the sandy soils of O Bolo shaped a saline identity and the wines achieved a lot of elegance and balance. It's a more heterogeneous vintage, and the higher-altitude vineyards behaved better. The 2020 O Soro is out of this world. He gave me a quick preview of the very cold 2021, a vin de garde vintage but a challenging year with a lot of rain. They are in the process of certifying their vineyards (organic and biodynamic), but they have some problems in the vineyards with neighbors who are not organic, so it will probably be faster for O Soro and Sorte Antiga.

Decanter (98)

Sampled from a vat, this is one of the best As Sortes I have ever tasted, comparable to the iconic 2011. It's a prodigy of subtleness and elegance. Everything is firmly delicate in this wine. Restrained aromas open up parsimoniously, with a steely structure like a great Burgundy, but with flinty acidity almost like Grosses Gewächs from Rheingau. Despite the fact that the sample was not yet bottled, the wine had no oak influence, just the indication that it had been aged, as top Godello must. Rafael Palacios is refining his work year after year, reaching the magic of the greatest wines. A top wine, and one to keep.

Wine Advocate (93)

La Gundiñas is the wine that shows the most differences between 2017 and 2018. The 2017 La Vizcaína Las Gundiñas is dark and concentrated, a wine of sun, while the 2018 is delicate and feels like a mini Bonnes Mares! This is quite like a Cornas—meaty, juicy, a little reticent and powerful, with abundant tannins. This is one wine that behaves better in 2017 than in 2016. This is a plot that has ups and down; it might be more regular in the future, as they finally bought it in 2018. Some 5,500 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2019.

Wine Advocate (95)

I was impressed by the 2017 La Vizcaína El Rapolao, but the warm vintage was very good for a warmer vineyard like El Rapolao. This is hands-down my favorite of the 2017s from La Vizcaína, the wine that shows more freshness. It's harmonious and perhaps was harvested a little earlier than the others. Like the other wines from the range, this 2017 has more color than the 2018, as well as more power and a little more concentration, and it's also denser than the 2018, with tannins that are grittier and a little drier. But if I didn't have the 2018 next to this, I would only be praising it, because the 2017 is truly impressive, all in place and simply one step up in power and all the rest to keep the balance. 10,000 bottles were filled in May 2019. This is a late-budding vineyard, and it didn't suffer the effect of the spring hail from the year.

Wine Advocate (95)

Raúl Pérez has purchased the plot of El Rapolao that he uses for La Vizcaína, close to 1.3 hectares, and they expect the wine to have a big change as they are taking over the viticulture and want to lower yields. The 2019 La Vizcaína El Rapolao has plenty of tannin and is more concentrated than the 2020. 5,000 bottles produced.

Wine Advocate (96)

There is more freshness in the 2020 La Vizcaína El Rapolao, where I even found notes of eucalyptus. It's medium-bodied and has fine tannins, very tasty and balanced. There are two new plots in 2020, so they produced some 7,500 bottles. He wants to reach 20,000 bottles here, and there will be a white Rapolao from a plot that he planted with Godello.

Vinous (94)

Shimmering violet. Intensely perfumed aromas of dark berries, cherry pit, incense, exotic spices and pungent flowers, along with a smoky mineral flourish that builds in the glass. Densely packed and chewy on the palate, showing excellent depth and bright mineral lift to the sappy black and blue fruit, spicecake and violet pastille flavors. Gains energy with air and finishes impressively long and juicy, polished tannins building slowly and harmonizing with the wine's mineral-tinged fruit.

Wine Advocate (96)

The 2019 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana comes from sandy soils and mostly north-facing vines, delivering elegant and floral wines. It's very young and fruit-driven, perhaps not as complex as the 2020. All of these reds are around 13.5% alcohol, medium-bodied and quite harmonious. 2019 was one of the larger crops, and there are 7,000 bottles of this.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2020 La Vizcaína La Vitoriana matured mostly in a troncoconic oak foudre and had a very short time in barrel. This wine has more Alicante Bouschet in the blend than others, and they didn't include the white grapes in the vineyard. But against all logic, the wine has more finesse than the 2019. 6,000 bottles produced.

The exquisite Raventós i Blanc Mas del Serral 2009, a sparkling wine of exceptional complexity and grace, hails from Catalonia, Spain. Crafted by the renowned Raventós i Blanc, a winemaking dynasty dating back to 1497, this wine exemplifies perfection with three years of lees ageing and a further six years of bottle ageing. Expertly sculpted from a blend of Xarel·lo and Parellada grapes delicately harvested from the prized Mas del Serral vineyard, it oscillates between freshness and maturity.

Perfect acidity and fine bubbles introduce an amalgamation of bright citrus notes balanced with aged honey undertones, culminating in a lingering, nuanced finish. A glorious testament to the terroir, the Raventós i Blanc Mas del Serral 2009 effectively captures the minerality of the limestone-rich soils of the 12-hectare estate. Unquestionably, it stands among the premier Catalan sparkling wines.

Wine Advocate (95)

The phenomenal 2010 Reserva is produced with 90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and some 5% of the skins of Malvasía and Viura grapes used for the white wine after it finished fermenting. Here, they select the grapes from some of their best and oldest vineyards, put them in cold storage for 24 hours and then exclusively select the grapes from the top half of the bunches. It fermented in 7,000-liter oak vats and small stainless steel tanks followed by malolactic and 25 months aging in new French barriques. This is a vintage that deserves to be laid down in the cellar, as it has all the components and the balance to develop into a superb classical Rioja with a few more years in bottle. Everything seems to be in its place, and all components show high quality: the tannins, the acidity, the oak, the fruit... Highly recommended. One for the cellar. 72,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2013.

Expertly crafted by acclaimed winemaker Fernando Remirez de Ganuza, the Remirez de Ganuza Rioja Reserva 2011 is a superb expression of Spanish finesse. Grapes are handpicked from the oldest vines in Rioja Alavesa, aged for 22 months in French oak, then bottled without filtration or clarification — manifesting an intense character that truly reflects its terroir. Its voluptuous bouquet bears notes of ripe red fruits, sweet spices, and smoky cedar, while the palate is noted for its well-structured tannins and endless finish. Drinking wonderfully now, the Remirez de Ganuza Rioja Reserva 2011 also possesses remarkable cellaring potential. A benchmark in modern Rioja winemaking, this distinguished reserva aligns tradition with innovation, achieving a harmony highly coveted among fine wine enthusiasts. Fully certified by the Consejo Regulador DOCa Rioja, it is indeed a testament to uncompromising quality and style.

Wine Advocate (98)

The flagship 2018 Clos Mogador is a blend of 45% Garnacha, 29% Cariñena, 16% Syrah and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon that fermented with natural yeasts and showcases their philosophy—slow fermentations with long maceration and long aging. It matured for 18 months in 2,000-liter oak vats and 30% in 300-liter oak barrels. There was a lot of rain in 2018, and the vineyards were extremely happy and everything seemed very easy; in fact, René Barbier told me it was perhaps too easy... It's an atypical year: It has a gentle profile, and the wines are not as concentrated as those from 2013 (the last rainy year before 2018)—they are more elegant and nuanced. This should develop beautifully in bottle. 27,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in July 2020.

Wine Advocate (97)

The 2018 Matallana is the only wine they produced in Ribera del Duero, a traditional blend of Tempranillo with approximately 15% other varieties —Valenciano (Bobal), Navarro (Garnacha) and white Albillo—from different soils in five different villages, Sotillo de la Ribera, Roa, Fuentecén, Fuentemolinos and Pardilla. It fermented in oak and stainless steel vats with indigenous yeasts and matured for 14 months in French oak barrels of different ages. It has 14.5% alcohol and a pH of 3.68. The wine is subtle, harmonious and elegant, complex and with integrated oak, very expressive with velvety tannins and a long, dry, chalky finish. This is superb, elegant but with the Duero rusticity and stone minerality. It has to be the finest Matallana to date. 22,020 bottles produced. It was bottled in May and June 2020. They skipped the 2017 of this wine as the year was decimated by killer frost.

Wine Advocate (95)

The 2015 O Diviso felt closed, more reticent, and seems more powerful, despite the fact they did a nonextractive vinification; they did nothing and let the wine ferment at its own pace. This matured in one 600-liter oak barrel, and this is the only red that has a slight note from the oak. There is also a relevant amount of Garnacha Tintorera, so the combination of a warm year, the small barrel and the varietal mix resulted in a more austere and backward wine that is going to require more time in bottle. The fruit is darker and the wine is more powerful than the 2014. It might evolve with time in bottle, because it certainly has the stuffing to do so, but today As Caborcas was singing, and I have to give it the edge. 895 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2016.

Jane Anson Inside Bordeaux (98)

The talented Telmo Rodriguez is launching this wine onto the Place with its first vintage for the entirety of its production. The grapes are from a 3.8ha limestone-dominant plot within the family’s Remelluri estate, found in the foothills of the Sierra de Tolono mountains. A sweet and smoky attack, with a ton of flavours and fragrant aromatics that grab hold and hang on, from dense liquorice root to crushed stones to blueberry, redcurrant, rose petals and tobacco, nothing too much or too overwhelming, but you also feel the herb-strewn call of the vineyard and you want to be there, among the vines where this is made. Get hold of it now, enjoy the brilliance of Telmo Rodriguez and the sense of place that he can bring to a wine. A field blend, as with the brilliant Remelluri Blanco, with just over 7,000 bottles in this inaugural vintage. An outstanding first outing that you should be following - believe me, this is a cult wine in the making.