Delight guests with a superb selection of wines from Ribera del Duero this festive season. Whether it’s to serve with the Christmas feast, to enjoy curled up by the fire with cheese and crackers, or even to offer as a gift, these exceptional wines are sure to impress.
Located in Castilla y Léon, North of Madrid, Ribera del Duero DO produces some of Spain’s most coveted wines. The region benefits from a variety of rich soils, high altitudes and extreme climates, making for a unique terroir. Grapes are primarily picked by hand, ensuring that only the best are used, resulting in exceptional quality wines.
Ribera del Duero’s reds showcase the purest expression of Tempranillo: from fruit-forward, Crianza wines to enjoy alongside a light supper or Boxing Day leftovers, to big, bold, spicy Reserva and multi-faceted Gran Reserva wines, aged for 3 and 5 years respectively. Bursting with spice, dark fruit and smoky flavours, these complex wines are the perfect accompaniment to the Christmas centrepiece or the Christmas day cheeseboard.
Delicious Ribera del Duero wine suggestions for Christmas drinking are included overleaf, complete with tasting notes from Tim Atkin MW, and are all included in his list of Top 100 Ribera del Duero wines 2021/2022: Top 100 Ribera Del Duero Wines 2021.
Cosecha
Bodegas Viña Mayor Secreto 3 RB Cosecha 2018, £17.50 at The Wine Society
Secreto 3 is the best wine yet under this increasingly impressive label, made by the effervescent Almudena Alberca MW. All sourced from red clay soils in La Horra, it's a perfumed, elegant, refined wine that, in some senses, is reminiscent of a Pinot Noir. Subtle reduction, old vine concentration, understated oak and layers of raspberry, tangerine and wild strawberry fruit make this a pleasure to drink. Drink 2022-26.
94 points
Bodegas Trus Punto Geodésico Cosecha 2019, £25.95 from Worsley Fine Wines
This is the second vintage of Bodegas Trus' impressive wine, produced with purchased old vine fruit in Moradillo, Peñaranda, La Aguilera and Baños de Valdearados. Chalky, fresh and almost flirting with chiselled austerity, it's all about limestone bite and tang, fine tannins and deftly handled wood. Herbal and slightly green, Punto Geodísico is a finely judged young Tinto Fino with the balance and intensity to age in bottle. Drink 2023-29.
94 points
Tr3smano TM Cosecha 2018, £33.66 from Decantalo
TM comes from a 100-year-old vineyard on the border between Anguix and La Horra. Now in its fourth vintage, it's a serious, full-bodied Tinto Fino that shows its low yields. The new French oak is vey well handled, framing the layered perfumed fruit. Fresh despite the power and weight, this has chalky minerality, dark berry flavours a balsamic lift. Classy stuff. Drink 2023-30.
95 points
Legaris Alcubilla de Avellaneda Cosecha 2017 £36.70 from Vinissimus
Part of the village wine range since it started in 2015, this is always among the last vineyards to be picked, located at a chilly 926 metres in Soria, close to the eastern limit of the denominación. Violet and rose petal aromas segue into a palate that's racy, fresh and energetic with impressive structure and a chalky tang. Drink 2022-29.
94 points
Bodegas Garmón Contintental Garmón Cosecha 2019, £37.53 from Decantalo
Eduardo García used fruit from six different villages - Anguix, Baños de Valdearados. La Aguilera, Moradillo, Quintanilla de Onésimo and Tubilla del Lago - to produce the latest vintage of this world-class red, blending their characters as an artist might mix a palette of colours. Spicy, chalky, structured yet refined, with haunting perfume, subtle oak, enviable density, energy and poise and the concentration to age. Drink 2024-35.
97 points
Viñedos y Bodegas García Figuero Tinto Figuero Noble Cosecha 2017, £67.90 from Vinissimus
Planted in 1950, the Parcela de Torrosillo is the source of this single vineyard expression, which combines chalk and red clay soils. Matured in new French oak, as the top Tinto Figuero wines always are, this is a ferrous, complex, somewhat backward red with assertive but well-integrated wood, lots of inky fruit and enough supporting acidity to freshen and lengthen the finish. Drink 2023-32.
94 points
Reserva and Gran Reserva
Conde de San Cristóbal Reserva Especial 2019, £19.23 from Decantalo
Until 2014, the Reserva Especial contained 10% each of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, but since 2015 it has been a varietal Tinto Fino from a three-hectare block in La Calvacha. Subtly wooded and refined, with no sign of the heat of the vintage, chalky freshness, fine tannins and admirable texture. Rather than a blockbuster, this is a wine of grace and finesse. Drink 2023-29.
94 points
Bodegas La Horra Corimbo I Reserva 2016, £23 from Noble Green Wines
Bodegas La Horra's top wine is built to age, eschewing easy drinkability in its youth. This hails from vineyards in five higher altitude Burgos vineyards with an average age of 60 years. Intense, savoury and sinewy, with some chalky freshness, notes of incense and dried herbs and layers of damson and tobacco leaf. Give it a few more years in bottle. Drink 2023-28.
94 points
Bodegas Arzuaga Navarro Reserva 2018, £34.05 from Decantalo
Ignacio Arzuaga may bemoan the fact that people drink his Reserva too young - the bodega's wine ages extremely well - but there's no denying that they are a pleasure to consume at different points in their evolution. This assemblage of Tinto Fino with 4% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Merlot is a case in point, with fine, granular tannins, subtle oak, a hint of balsam and lovely poise and freshness. Drink 2022-30.
94 points
Pago de los Capellanes El Nogal Reserva 2016, £40.12 from Decantalo
El Nogal comes from a six-hectare farm at 850 metres in Mambrilla on clay and puddingstone soils and is often one of Ribera del Duero's best reds. Easily carrying its new French oak, this is a delicious expression of what Pepe Hidalgo regards as one of the region's greatest vintages. Elegant, refined and well structured, it's a less powerful wine than the 2015, with graceful tannins, refreshing acidity and layers of plum and blackberry fruit. Drink 2022-29.
96 points
ENDS
A very limited number of samples of these and other examples of Ribera del Duero
wines are available on request.
For more information or images, please contact Hannah Armitage at CUBE Communications hannah@cubecom.co.uk
