The Best of Spain! Four Bottle of Exceptional Wines Spanish Wine

One Bottle 2004 Sierra Cantabria Finca El Bosque, Rioja, Spain

"The 2004 Finca El Bosque raises the bar. Its aromatics are already multi-dimensional and very seductive. Satin-textured with the tannins beginning to integrate, it has remarkable depth, succulent spicy black fruit flavors, as well as another 8-10 years of cellaring potential. It is one of the finest wines of a great vintage.

Bodegas Sierra Cantabria is another outstanding Rioja estate owned and operated by the Eguren family. The Finca El Bosque Vineyard is a 4 acre parcel of Tempranillo planted on gravel in 1973. The wine is put through ML in new oak and spends 18 months in new, mostly French oak."

The Wine Advocate 98 Points

One Bottle 2005 Emilio Moro Malleolus de Valderramiro, Ribera del Duero, Spain

"The 2005 Mallelous de Valderramiro is 100% Tempranillo sourced from a single 85-year-old vineyard with tiny yields. The wine went through malolactic fermentation in new American oak with batonnage followed by aging in new French oak for 18 months. Inky purple-hued, the wine has stunning aromatics, kinky and complex. Notes of mineral/slate, pencil lead, espresso, wild blueberry and blackberry lead to a layered, opulent wine with superb concentration and great length. Give it 6-8 years of additional cellaring and drink it through 2030."

The Wine Advocate 97 Points

One Bottle 2004 Muga Torre Muga, Rioja, Spain

"The 2004 Torre Muga is 75% Tempranillo, 15% Mazuelo, and 10% Graciano. It is aged for 3 months in large wood vats before spending 18 months in new French oak. Inky purple-hued, it exhibits a superb nose of wood smoke, pencil lead, spice box, scorched earth, and blackberry. This leads to a layered, opulent wine with 5-7 years of aging potential. It has great balance and should drink at its best from 2015 to 2025."

The Wine Advocate 96 Points

One Bottle 2004 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 890, Rioja, Spain

"The 2004 Gran Reserva 890 is the top of the range here, a wine that is only released three/four times per decade in exceptional years. They start by sourcing grapes from their oldest vineyards and going through a slow process of aging the wine in American oak barrels for six years, with ten manual rackings, and each time there is a selection of only the best barrels. The bottled wine is 13.5% alcohol with a remarkably low pH (3.0) that to me means 'quality' of the acidity, which is a healthy six grams per liter (in tartaric). The nose is all about forest floor aromas, game, cigar ash, incense, old furniture and some smoked meat. The palate shows what the technical data was hinting--very fresh with slightly dusty tannins and nice acidity. It's polished, but feels livelier than some older vintages. 38,000 numbered bottles."

The Wine Advocate 94+