As gardens begin to bloom, the birds return to the trees and the year truly feels like it’s beginning, it’s time to experience the exciting wines of Ribera Del Duero.
Spain’s Ribera Del Duero is one of the most exciting wine regions in Europe. Located in the historic Castilla y León, just 2 hours north of Madrid, this 115km strip of vineyards hugging the banks of the Duero River has long produced some of the highest quality wines in the country. This season, as the days get longer and the weather gets warmer, why not enjoy their delicious red wines alongside your spring lamb, their structured rosés with your fresh vegetables, or their new range of white wines with sumptuous seafood.
The vineyards of Ribera Del Duero stretch from the riverbanks, up the slopes of the valley, and onto the exposed moorlands at some of the highest vineyard altitudes in Europe. With over 30 different recognised soil types, and producers increasingly gaining impressive understanding of blending options and single vineyard expressions, it’s no wonder that Tim Atkin MW cites Ribera Del Duero as the “Burgundy of Spain”!
Tempranillo, known locally as Tinto Fino, dominates the plantings, with some old vines dating back well over 200 years. It can express differences in terroir as well as in winemaking skill and expression, from light and fruit-forward to powerful and complex wines that are bursting with spice, dark fruit and smoky flavours. Both styles are produced across the traditional ageing categories of crianza, reserva, gran reserva and the increasingly important cosecha, denoting either younger wines or those produced outside the traditional ageing rules.
You can also enjoy full flavoured and gastronomic rosé wines as well as increasingly impressive white wines from the unique, local, white variety Albillo Mayor. Whether you’re hosting the family for Sunday lunch or braving the first barbeque of the year, the range of wines on offer truly delivers something for all tastes and occasions this Spring.
Examples of exceptional Ribera del Duero wines for spring drinking are included overleaf. All are accompanied by tasting notes from Tim Atkin MW and were included in his list of Top 100 Ribera Del Duero wines 2022/2023, which can be viewed via the Ribera Del Duero website: Top 100 Ribera Del Duero Wines 2022 (https://www.riberadelduero.es/uk/en/communication-and-branding/ribera-del-duero-do-unveils-latest-top-100-selection)
White Wines
Bodegas Félix Callejo, El Lebrero Cosecha 2021
RRP £27.00
94 points
One of the best white wines in Ribera del Duero on current form, El Lebrero hails from two parcels in Sotillo de la Ribera at 880 and 920 metres. Lees-aged in concrete and 500 litre barrels, it's taut, tangy and refreshing with a herbal, almost Sauvignon Blanc like tang, lots of minerality and a twist of aniseed spice. 2022-27
Tr3smano Blanco de Albillo Mayor 2019
RRP £50.00
94 points
Pedro Aibar seems to understand the foibles of Albillo Mayor as well as anyone. This Burgundian style interpretation of Ribera del Duero's signature white grape hails from Nava de Roa and Olmedillo and is savoury, leesy and salty, with struck match complexity, beeswax and wild mushroom undertones and finely balanced oak. 2023-28
Rosé Wines
Magna Vides Rosado Cosecha 2019
RRP £20.00
93 points
This delicious rosado, made in a classic clarete style by combining direct pressed Tinto Fino and Albillo Mayor, is serious stuff, using raw material from eight to 100-year-old vineyards in La Aguilera. Pale and delicate, with an onion skin hue, pomegranate, strawberry and tangerine flavours, lots of zip and acidity and a twist of white pepper. 2022-25
Red Wines
Bodegas Valdaya, Mirum Cosecha 2020
RRP £60.00
98 points
Great sites make great wines in the right hands. Las Piedras, an isolated, 80-year-old, limestone-based vineyard at 925 metres in cooler climate Baños de Valdearados, supplies the fruit for this world-class Tinto Fino from one of Ribera del Duero's most exciting producers. Intensely perfumed, with thyme and fennel scents, filigree tannins, crunchy plum and black cherry flavours and refined 25% new oak. Simply delicious from Marta Ramas and Miguel Fisac. 2024-35
Viñedos y Bodegas Áster, Finca El Otero Cosecha 2019
RRP £40.00
97 points
For my money, this is the best release yet of Finca El Otero, a Tinto Fino which now ranks among the region's very best wines. Wonderfully floral and engaging, with stylish oak and fine-grained tannins, flavours of green herbs, fennel, blackberry and oregano, some stony reduction and a tangy, chiselled finish. A superb effort from the La Rioja Alta team. 2024-35
Bodegas Félix Callejo, Majuelos de Callejo Cosecha 2020
RRP £45.00
96 points
Majuelos - a term used to describe small, family-owned parcels in the past - hails from three vineyards in Sotillo de la Ribera (Camposanto, Medio Arroyo and Arenales), all of which are located on deeper soils. Aged in deftly integrated new French oak, it's a wonderfully elegant Tinto Fino with redcurrant and red cherry flavours, chalky freshness and subtle wood spices. 2024-32
Hacienda Monasterio Reserva 2018
RRP £65.00
96 points
"A wonderful vintage" is how Peter Sisseck describes 2018 at Hacienda Monasterio, a property that often performs best in cooler, more Atlantic growing seasons. Made with Tinto Fino on limestone and 20% Cabernet Sauvignon on gravel soils, both of them planted in 1990, this is a deliciously complex, nuanced red with pine and tobacco pouch aromas, notes of incense, graphite and wild strawberry and a leafy lift of acidity. 2025-35
Montebaco S.L, Parcela Cara Norte Cosecha 2019
RRP £25.00
96 points
Is Cara Norte the best value wine in Ribera del Duero? It's surely in the top one, as the English football manager Brian Clough once put it. Ludicrously cheap at €17, it comes from a dry-farmed vineyard that was planted in 1998 and is flourishing without irrigation. Fresh, yet concentrated with mountain herb aromas, redcurrant, black olive and liquorice flavours, stylish 20% new wood and a pure, ethereal finish. 2025-35
Bodegas Hermanos Pérez Pascuas, Viña Pedrosa Reserva 2019
RRP £40.00
95 points
The Viña Pedrosa Reserva uses grapes from the Finca Prado El Carril at 843 metres and features the classic Pérez Pascuas combination of French and 60% American oak. You can almost taste the limestone in the soils here, as well as the concentration of the old vine fruit. Grippy and built to age, this has notes of tobacco leaf and sweet spices, a tannic backbone and a plush mid-palate. 2024-32
Dominio Fournier Reserva 2019
RRP £40.00
95 points
It's a pleasure to see Dominio Fournier back on form with a wine as good as this one. Sourced from older vines on this Berlangas de Roa estate, it's a rich, perfumed, full-bodied Tinto Fino with stylish 50% new French oak, impressive structure and density, notes of wild herbs and graphite and lots of youthful bramble and blackberry fruit. Layered and complex. And up a point with an extra year in bottle. 2023-32
