Wines

97 Points! The 2021 Anza Especial was produced with the idea to obtain a wine with aging potential while keeping the freshness and drinkability from early on. It was produced with the fruit from three old vines—Tempranillo, Graciano, Garnacha and Viura—fermented by plot in stainless steel and matured in used 500-liter oak barrels. It encapsulates the perfume, finesse and elegance that is present in the whole portfolio here with the aid of a very balanced 2021 vintage. It has notes of violets, red and black berry fruit, wild herbs and subtle spices. The palate has symmetry, elegance and precision, the tannins are extremely fine-bonded, and the flavors pure and precise and stay in your mouth for a long time after you swallow. Great juice. It should age effortlessly. 2,800 bottles produced. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The bottled 2023 PSI is faithful to the final blend I tasted last year before the wine was bottled. It's juicy, ripe and approachable, a little showier and headier, not quite reaching 14% alcohol but almost. This year, it has some 10% Garnacha in the bottled blend, some of it mixed with Tempranillo and some of it on its own. They are planting more Garnacha for the future. It feels like a very classical old-time Ribera del Duero wine, with elegant rusticity that I love. It's perfumed and floral with notes of decayed flowers. Twenty percent of the wine matured in barrels while the rest matured in oak vats, for some 14 months. The tannins are polished, and it feels like the time in bottle has done it good; the PSI tannins usually need time. They are resolved quite quickly, but the wine does need a bit of time. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! I tasted two vintages of the entry-level wine, starting with the 2021 Pícaro del Águila Tinto. It's ripe and round, with round tannins, velvety and polished, approachable and hedonistic. It's nicely built and serious, very serious for an entry level. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! 2021 was a very good vintage for Dominio del Bendito, and the 2021 Las Sabias shows the freshness of the year with the ripe, concentrated, powerful house style. You don't really feel the 16.5% alcohol in this wine, and it comes through as full-bodied but balanced, with ripe fruit and tannins and integrated oak after spending 16 months in French oak barrels. It is finer-boned than other years. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! The 2020 Angelita del Challao comes from a blend of different vineyards in the three valleys from Labastida, looking for a village wine; it was produced with 85% Tempranillo and the rest Garnacha, Mazuelo, Viura, Garnacha Blanca and other rare varieties from their own vineyards and purchased grapes. It fermented in concrete with indigenous yeasts, 40% full clusters that are foot trodden and the rest uncrushed grapes and matured in 225- and 500-liter barrels and 2,000-liter foudres—10 months with each plot separate—and then it was blended and let to settle in concrete for another 10 months. They look for a more approachable wine than Challao, with more floral aromas in a very elegant and harmonious way. The palate is medium-bodied with medium ripeness, 13.5% alcohol and very good freshness and acidity, balanced and harmonious, very tasty and with elegant, refined tannins. Really very good. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! A harmonious red that marries modern pomp with restraint and elegance. Full-bodied and lush, yet fresh and well-defined by sinewy tannins. Features flavors of pureed blackberry, licorice snap, herbed black olive and mocha that expand on the palate, with tarry smoke and loamy earth character. Best from 2023 through 2033. - Wine Spectator

92 Points! A harmonious red that leans toward traditional in style without forsaking its concentration or fruit expression. An overtone of tobacco, vanilla and milled white pepper is a fragrant thread winding through ripe and juicy black cherry and plum fruit, framed by refined, supple tannins. Hints of leather, red licorice and wild thyme play on the fresh, focused finish. Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo. - Wine Spectator

92 Points! The new young red 2021 El Predilecto recovers Predilecto, which was a historic brand of the house, a wine with less aging than the rest and more fruity character. In this case, they want it to show the fruit expression of the vineyard without oak. They call it the new old concept in Rioja, what the wines used to be before the arrival of the French, pure fruit. It's a blend of 65% Garnacha from Cárdenas and Cordovín and 35% Tempranillo from Samaniego that fermented destemmed but uncrushed (so not exactly a carbonic maceration) with clean and fresh aromas and flavors. It's ripe and hedonistic, with 14.5% alcohol and good freshness. It matured in concrete for five months. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The 2022 Hacienda Monasterio is a blend of 86% Tinto Fino, 13% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Malbec. They only got 170 liters of rain and suffered five heat waves—what happens in Ribera is accentuated at the Monasterio estate—but they were able to manage it quite well. Since 2018, they have been harvesting earlier, in early September, because they have managed to achieve ripeness a little earlier, and it shows in the wine, which has 14.5% alcohol on the label (perhaps a little lower in the real analysis, but they need to round up to half a degree on the labels). The skins were thick, so the vinification was softer to avoid too much extraction. They also did a longer aging in barrel; it's usually 15 to 17 months, depending on the lot, but this year, the average was 17 months and it helped. In contrast, they did a shorter élevage in 2023, because it was what the wine called for. The nose is harmonious and shows no heat or excess ripeness (or oak), and the palate is silky with surprisingly ripe and round tannins, escaping the excess grip I found in many 2022s in the zone. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

92 Points! The textbook traditional red 2019 Señorío de P. Peciña Crianza was produced with their classical blend of Tempranillo with small percentages of Garnacha and Graciano. It fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in used American oak barrels following the most orthodox tradition, for two years, a lot longer than required to obtain the category. It has spicy notes, a hint of cigar box and forest floor and is a powerful and ripe year, when the wine achieved 14.36% alcohol and good freshness and acidity. It has a medium to full-bodied palate with a chalky mouthfeel, fine tannins and a slightly dusty and rustic touch that would welcome food. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! There's also a village red from Labastida, of which I tasted two vintages. The 2021 Viñedos en Labastida is a blend of different plots with some 85% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha and 5% white grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts and some whole clusters in search of balance and elegance. The wine matured in 500- and 600-liter oak foudres in their cold cave. This was my favorite of the village reds, with a perfumed and elegant nose, complex, deep and nuanced. It's serious, harmonious and with very fine tannins. It has medium ripeness and good balance. 3,600 bottles were filled in September 2022. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93+ Points! The village 2021 Viñedos en San Vicente de la Sonsierra was produced with 75% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacha and the rest white grapes, mostly Viura from vineyards in the middle and higher part of the village. It fermented partly with full clusters and matured 50/50 in concrete and 500- and 600-liter barrels in their cave. This feels quite serious, with ripeness and power, slowly revealing more elegant notes and some floral hints, with an earthy touch. It feels like the grapes ripened thoroughly in the longer cycle and developed plenty of nuances. It has 13.9% alcohol and is medium to full-bodied, serious and balanced, with the stuffing to develop in bottle. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93 Points! The 2021 La Lobita combines Tempranillo with a touch of Albillo Mayor from Soria, Ribera del Duero. A vibrant purple in the glass. The fruit-forward aromas deliver elderberry, crushed plum and floral notes, along with pennyroyal and mustard. Dry and lean with firm tannins, it boasts a juicy, energetic palate. The 2021 is made in the new, rewardingly fruit-driven Ribera style. - Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous

75% Tempranillo and 25% Albillo from organic, recuperated 100-year-old vines in the high elevation (900-1,000 meters) eastern edge of Ribera del Duero.

Winemaking: Spontaneous fermentation and gentle racking by gravity. Co-fermented in used 500L French oak barrels. Bottled in the spring of 2022 and held a year in bottle prior to release.

Production: 1,339 bottles (288 bottles imported)

97 Points! The 2016 Gran Reserva 904 from Rioja Alta is composed of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano. It aged for four years in American oak barrels, 20% of which were new. This has a slightly sun-kissed profile, opening with pronounced oaky aromas followed by classic tertiary notes of clove, licorice, vanilla and caramel, alongside hints of tobacco leaf and bay. This is complex in its maturity, offering good volume, creamy texture and a seamless flow across the palate. A touch of camphor appears at the finish, adding energy to the approachable character. The extended aging in oak defines the long, composed finale. - Joaquin Hidalgo, Vinous

97 Points! Such a deep and complex gran reserva with richness and depth. Genuinely intense and harmonious, with cigar box, pine cones, black mushrooms and high-grade wood and vanilla. Juicy, flavorful and really long. Goes on for a minute, if not more. Such a hedonistic Rioja that delivers sheer pleasure. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. - JamesSuckling.com

96 Points! The 2019 Vina Ardanza is a highly impressive, full-bodied blend of 80% older-vine Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from two different parts of Rioja grown at the same altitude. The producer’s own American oak was used to age the Tempranillo 36 months and the Garnacha 30 months, 20% new. The fruity nose of black cherry and plum complements beautifully against Garnacha’s seductively spicy texture and mouthfeel. It’s lively, complex, and lengthy, with melty tannins. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

94 Points! No 2018 was produced, so after the 2017 I tasted last year, we jumped to the 2019 Viña Ardanza Reserva, produced with a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha. It fermented destemmed in stainless steel and aged in American oak barrels, 36 months for the Tempranillo and 30 months for Garnacha, and was blended before bottling. 2019 is a very good year for them, a small crop of powerful and concentrated wines when they produced all their brands, an exception. This is spicy, structured, balanced and powerful in this warm year, reaching the customary 14.5% alcohol and keeping a pH of 3.54 and 5.5 grams of acidity. It's still very young and undeveloped, with the classical profile, generous in American oak aromas and flavors that should slowly integrate in the wine with years in bottle. For them, 2019 means a change in Ardanza, less spicy (but still quite spicy, with clove, vanilla and tobacco leaves) and with more fresh fruit from the Garnacha. But the year is a modern version of 2015. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com