Spain

94 Points! The flagship of the estate, the 2021 Tinto is based on 85% Tempranillo, 13% Graciano, and 2% Garnacha. It has a gorgeous nose of cassis and darker berries interwoven with subtle spice, graphite, and leather. This carries to a medium to full-bodied, round, concentrated wine with beautiful tannins, a layered, seamless mouthfeel, and a great finish. I'd buy it. It should have two decades or more of overall longevity. - Virginie Boone, JebDunnuck.com

95 Points! They adjusted the picking dates, and the 2022 Camino de Auritz sees a jump in freshness and elegance, finishing with a full 1% less alcohol than the 2021 (this has 13.5%). It's Garnacha from two old plots of 0.22 and 0.1 hectares on limestone soils at 450-plus meters above sea level, where they found some plants of Garnacha Gris. It fermented with 50% full clusters and indigenous yeasts (including malolactic) and matured in used French oak barrels for 11 months. This is a big jump in quality from the previous year. Unfortunately, there are only 874 bottles of this wine. It was bottled in August 2024. The wine is harmonious and approachable but should also age nicely in bottle. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! The red blend 2023 Anza was produced with Tempranillo, Garnacha, Graciano, Malvasía, Calagraño, Viura and Moscatel grapes from the zones of Laguardia and Elvillar, produced in a fresh and direct style with no makeup. It fermented with some stems by plot and zones and matured in used 500-liter barrels and oak vats of different sizes for 12 months. They had 568 liters of rain in 2023, which also saw mild temperatures, save for a 12-day heat wave at the end of August, followed by a rainy September and October. The wine is clean, open, aromatic and nuanced. None of the reds show any aromatic influence from the wood. It has a contained 13.5% alcohol and a very balanced, medium-bodied and elegant palate, with very fine tannins. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! The 2023 El Terroir is a village red from San Martín de Unx that was selected from six different vineyards that were harvested quite early, at the beginning of September. It fermented with full clusters, indigenous yeasts and a long maceration. It is slightly darker than La Dama, with more clout and some more tannins but all relative to La Dama, which is superlative, because outside that context, this would be super fragrant, elegant and subtle. It has container power, lots of energy and depth and a beautiful combination of wild berries, herbs and flowers. It has a fine-boned, medium-bodied palate and good balance. It has contained ripeness and around 13.5% alcohol. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94+ Points! The red 2018 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza is pretty and attractive, fresh and aromatic, floral, the result of a challenging year with lots of rain and high humidity. This is usually the last vineyard to be harvested, and the grapes were picked late, the 26th of October. It's a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that matured in a combination of oak vats and well-seasoned American oak barrels for six years. It's elegant and clean, young and undeveloped, with very fine tannins and a sleek, polished mouthfeel. It has 13.5% alcohol, a pH of 3.0 and 6.5 grams of acidity. This could be the finest Cubillo in recent times, and it's a bargain. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! Aromas of limes, white nuts, green apples, savory seaweed and seashells. So delicious, with a creamy, nutty touch and a savory, lightly saline finish. Nori at the end. Really long and intellectual. Viura aged in Sherry butts. Drink or hold. - JamesSuckling.com

93+ Points! The 2021 Monopole Clásico Reserva comes from a cooler year with a long cycle and was produced with grapes that were picked on October 7 and 8, fermented in stainless steel, then matured in oak barrels and Sherry casks of different sizes—300, 400 and 500 liters—where it matured for eight months and managed to grow a veil of flor yeasts in the butts filled with the wine. Still pale and young but with incipient complexity, it has a very spicy nose with notes of esparto grass, hints of pollen and cereals. It's fresh and comes in at 13.38% alcohol, with a pH of 3.26 and 5.61 grams of acidity, meaning balance and freshness. It has depth, complexity and character, with more freshness and acidity and some grip, showing more of the character of the vintage. It's very tasty and ends with a very pleasant bitter twist in the finish. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! A tight, structured Rioja with blackcurrants, sandalwood, coffee and cassis on the nose, followed by a chewy, toasty and medium- to full-bodied palate. Firm, dusty tannins. Compact. Better after 2026. - JamesSuckling.com

94 Points! Beautiful nose with lifted herbal notes hovering over the lush black and blue fruit. Tannins are fresh and well presented lending fluidity to the fruit. The mineral backbone as further support to the framework. An alluring, long finish of zesty citrus married with herbal intensity (oregano and thyme). - Decanter Magazine

93 Points! The 2020 Imperial Reserva was produced with a blend of Tempranillo and 15% Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha grapes that were put through optical sorting and fermented in oak vats by vineyard, and the wine matured for 24 months in barrels, 70% French and the rest American. It has a shy nose that takes time to open up in the glass, but it is surprisingly harmonious and balanced and fresh for the year. It has a little more ripeness, but there's no excess at all; it has 14% alcohol, a pH of 3.65 and 5.44 grams of acidity. It has notes of spices, cigar box and ash, berries and wild herbs and a sleek and polished palate with resolved tannins.  - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

96 Points! Juicy, ripe, plummy fruit with a spicy wood touch and a hint of citrus. Assertive and fine-grained with medium to full body. Excellent tannins are nicely woven and integrated with the fruit. Long finish. La Hoya stands out in this challenging vintage. 95% tempranillo and 5% viura. Sand and silt soils on an east-facing slope. 3.3 hectares. From organically grown grapes. - JamesSuckling.com

95 Points! The bottled version of the 2023 La Hoya feels quite serious and harmonious. It spent its first winter in 500- and 600-liter barrels and the second one in a 4,000-liter oak foudre. The nose is quite subtle and a little shy, with finesse. The top part of the plot is sandy, and the lower part has more silt; the combination gives the wine fruit and structure. It also has a lot of limestone and comes through as very balanced too. It's medium-bodied and really fine-boned. This is now showing much better than anticipated. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

97+ Points! The bottled 2023 San Lázaro, from the 1.62 hectares of vines they have, shows contained ripeness and has 14.4% alcohol. This is always more restrained, and there's no exuberance here; there's subtleness, finesse and verticality. It has a spicy side, with notes reminiscent of curry, a little à la Vosne-Romanée, a little cinnamon perhaps, but with the Tempranillo austerity, of course. The palate is medium-bodied, with great balance and super fine and elegant tannins. The wine is a little closed at the moment, but it should grow with time in bottle. It's really good and challenges El Carretil this year. I give it the edge—perhaps because it is the more approachable of the 2023s. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The only white produced here is the 2020 Viñas de Gaín Blanco, which is balsamic and aromatic, floral and herbaceous, from a fresher and more elegant vintage. It fermented with some skins to give it complexity and volume, but he has reduced the time the wine is in contact with the skins, and this year, the wine finished part of the fermentation in used 600-liter demi-muids and was kept in stainless steel with lees for two years. They have stopped racking the white, and they feel it keeps a livelier character. It has the profile of the traditional Rioja whites with a modern twist, cleaner, more focused and precise. It has a moderate 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.31 and 6.05 grams of sugar, fresh and vibrant. It's beautiful, possibly the best year for the white and a year they think was better for the white than for the reds. Bravo! - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! The 1981 Vina Tondonia Gran Reserva has a vibrant nose reminiscent of coeval Burgundy, with scents of citrus peel, orange rind, singed leather and a Tuscan delicatessen. The palate has a penetrating orange peel and tart cherry entry with potent earthy notes at its core. It is supremely well-balanced with an energetic finish underpinned by crisp dry tannins. This wonderful Rioja is drinking perfectly now and will age effortlessly. - Neal martin, robertparker.com

95 Points! The pale and delicate red 2023 Ollos de Maia, made with 40% each Brancellao and Caíño Longo and 20% Zamarrica (a.k.a. Caíño da Terra), was produced with a very long maceration. It's perfumed, aromatic and elegant, with notes of dried rose petals and wild herbs and is fine-boned and elegant palate with very fine tannins and great balance and harmony. It's really impressive, clean, focused and precise. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94+ Points! The very young and pale white 2024 Txuria has a serious and stony nose. It was produced with grapes from small dry-farmed plots in different locations—Dicastillo (490 meters above sea level) and Andosilla (395 meters above sea level) in Navarra and Ábalos (550 meters above sea level) in Rioja—on sandy and silty soils with clay and limestone. It fermented in stainless steel without malolactic and was kept with the lees, 50% in stainless steel and the rest in used 400-liter French oak barrels. It has great purity, elegance, focus, clarity and balance. It comes in at a moderate 12.5% alcohol, with surprising freshness (pH 3.09) and high acidity (6.7 grams). This is stunning...- Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

95 Points! Magnificent black cherry, tea leaf, cocoa and violet perfume. Elegant, round and silky on the palate, with ripe polished tannins, amazing structure and nicely-integrated oak. Fruit-driven and persistent finish. - Decanter World Wine Awards

93 Points! They consider the 2023 La Servil a paraje wine, despite coming from a large vineyard with different soils. It's always a floral and expressive red, and in a year of low yields, the larger size of the grapes compensated and gave the wines more texture and more tension, resulting in a subtle and fine vintage for the reds. It fermented completely destemmed and matured in foudre for 18 months, as they are extending the time in oak for all their wines (the 2024s will be two years). All the 2023 reds are around 14% alcohol, but they're very balanced and fine-boned. In this case, it showcases the sandy, elegant soils that resulted in finer tannins. All the reds are very pure, fresh and mineral, with a strong stony sensation. I think there is more elegance this year. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94+ Points! The red 2024 Matas Altas Tinto is a pure Monastrell from different old vineyards (the same ones used for the 2023), the youngest of which dates from 1967, all ungrafted and dry farmed in their village Fuente-Álamo and planted with field blends, mostly Monastrell but with other varieties, on limestone soils with different textures: marl, sand and gravel. It fermented with 10% full clusters—the same for all the reds from this vintage—and indigenous yeasts. It's the youngest of the reds and has a clean, perfumed and elegant nose, not really fruity, more austere/stony but still the gentler of the reds. They want to pick the grapes when they are ripe to give them time to develop aromas and flavors. Here, they also want to expand the élevage to 18 months, but in 2024, it was only one winter, in 8,000-liter oak foudres and some barrels. It's fine-boned and balanced, with abundant, chalky tannins, and it's more powerful than the 2023. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

93-94 Points! Tasted just before bottling, so a sample of the final blend, the 2023 PSI is juicy, ripe and approachable. It is a little showier and headier, despite having similar alcohol to the bottled 2022 (perhaps a tad higher, but not quite reaching 14%), and it feels a little riper, with peachy notes and some decayed flowers. It has abundant tannins and feels like it's in need of some more time in bottle. This is usually the case for PSI: the tannins need time. They are resolved quite quickly, but it does need a bit of time. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94+ Points! 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. - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The grapes for the 2021 Reserva (sold as Crianza in Spain), mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha Tinta, Mazuelo and Graciano, were picked late in a cooler year when they finished the harvest the 20th of October, with plenty of times for the grapes to develop full aromas and flavors and complete ripeness. It fermented destemmed and lightly crushed in oak vats with indigenous yeasts, separating qualities, villages and soils, and matured in 80% French and 20% American oak barrels, 20% of them new, for 24 months, with racking every eight to nine months. It's a textbook example of their style in a very good year, with power, concentration and clout, elegance and freshness. It was a very harmonious year; the cycle was long and the tannins ripened to perfection. It's terrific... - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com

94 Points! The winery’s flagship, the wine that introduced Muga to the world, the 2021 Muga Reserva is Tempranillo-dominant, with Garnacha, Mazuelo, and Graciano filling in the gaps. A larger-production wine, it offers tremendous quality, fermented in wooden vats using indigenous yeasts, the grapes separated by quality, soil type, and village origin. This one in particular is from a beautiful vintage and practically beams in full-bodied concentration, with supple, silky tannins and light touches of oak spice, cedar, balsamic, and white pepper. A new release, it should continue to thrive another 15-20 years. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

96 Points! Even more outstanding than the 2020, the incredibly priced 2021 Reserva is young in boisterous blue fruit, with a generous, full-bodied palate of richness and upfront power. The tannins add length and breadth to the wine, which is tasting great and could go another 10-15 years. - Virginie Boone, jebdunnuck.com

96 Points! Elegant yet perfectly structured, this is the most floral of the Murrieta Reservas I’ve tasted in recent years. With 8% Graciano and 4% Mazuelo, the nose is perfumed with pretty rose petal and delicate red berry fruit, as well as wild herbal aromas. Blueberry fruit typical of Tempranillo directs the palate, rounded out with a little fleshy Garnacha, and framed by subtle American oak. It offers immediate appeal but will age gracefully for many years to come. - Decanter Magazine

95 Points! Their flagship wine comes from one of the finest vintages in recent times. The 2021 Marqués de Murrieta was previously called the Reserva and still qualifies as such, but it's not included in the name now. It was produced with 86% Tempranillo, 8% Graciano, 4% Mazuelo and 2% Garnacha Tinta from their 300 hectares of vines in their Ygay estate on limestone and clay soils with alluvial influence. The grapes were picked between the 27th of September and the 15th of October, and each plot and variety was vinified separately in stainless steel, matured in American oak barrels for 26 months, then blended and kept in concrete for a few months until bottling, which was a longer élevage this year. It's very spicy, peppery, with a combination of berry fruit and some incipient tertiary aromas, hints of forest floor and truffle. It's very Rioja, with clout, elegance and freshness and the elegant tannins that are the signature of 2021. It comes in at 14.3% alcohol with a pH of 3.6, denoting ripeness and balance. It's delicious, fresh and available. Bravo! - Luis Gutierrez, robertparker.com