Any suggestions on the best Ribera del Duero Tempranillos?
Looking to divide this out between sub $60 and $60+.
Thanks in advance
Sub $60.00. WTSO has this a lot with free shipping for $21.99. I have gone through a few cases and maybe one off bottle.
2010 Ardal Tradicion Ribera del Duero Reserva Selección Especial - Spain, Castilla y León, Ribera del Duero (10/1/2019)
Day 1: Final bottle. Bought over a case for less than $12. Best purchase in a while. Earth, spice, wood, floral and minerals. Medium plus finish. Drink this wine now. 91 points
Day 3: Lots of oak and dill. Lose of fruit that was present on these six months ago. I would cellar any you have. 88 points
Day 3.5: Tons of air with the last glass and it worked. Still has the wood and subtle dill but the fruits have emerged again. Medium plus finish. Cellar as recommended. 91 points
Recommendation: Cellar and drink after 2022. (91 points)
Thanks. will keep an eye out for this one.
Do this few people drink Ribera del Duero Tempranillos or did I just post this at the wrong time?
Well, the combination of unabashed fresh oak that won’t go away and the high alcohol on RdD wines may have something to do with the chirping crickets on your post.
I like RDD, though would agree there are some big overoaky ones out there. That said, have a few I like a lot.
$60+:
Flor de pingus - big wine but manages to keep balance. I’m definitely a fan. Have never had Pingus proper, but at $85-90, this isn’t a bad price.
Vega Sicilia Valbeuna- a true classic RDD
<$60
Pesquera Reserva - $40-50 typically, this is a bit more restrained then Flor. Love this wine.
Condado de Haza- the crianza is a is a great value
Bodegas Gormaz- had a 2010 about 6 months ago that was coming together really nicely. Also a solid value.
Maybe the OP asked the wrong question - instead of the $60 mark, how about just some good ones that don’t taste like the oak monsters that were fashionable in the early 2000s…
Vega is great of course if you have the $$$. I’ve been impressed with Perez Pascuas lately. I’d be buying a ton of Viadero if they weren’t sulfurless. But I’d definitely like to have more from the region if only it weren’t such a minefield.
No, some of us do. But I haven’t been checking in much and the sixty dollar price was a bit random. I’m not sure what that really has to do with anything.
And it really depends on what you like, as always.
I’ve actually read some MW say that there’s no “terroir” there, but I have no idea what he’s talking about and I don’t think he did either.
There are obviously the projects of the Garcia family that are worth looking at. Mariano made Vega Sicilia for many years and knows RdD better than anyone. His first project, Mauro, was on the western end of the region near Valladolid and it’s actually just outside the formal boundary of RdD. Their Terreus is a produced from a single vineyard that’s around 90 years old at this point. It tends to be a bit pricey. All of his wines used to be criticized for oak, but that’s less obvious these days, although it’s a factor in all of the wines I know. Compared with say, Vega Sicilia’s vineyards on the eastern side of RdD, the vineyards on the west are a bit warmer and tend to produce bigger and sometimes riper wines.
He also has a project called Aalto, in the northern region of RdD. They use estate and contracted grapes from the region. It’s in Burgos, which is where some wonderful wines come from. It can be pretty oaky in some vintages but that integrates over the years. It’s also less of a tannic monster than some.
There’s Uvaguilera, which produces Palomero, a big, tight and tough wine. Goes for around $100 these days. It was started with Mariano’s nephew Isaac at the helm. He also was signed on as winemaker at Bodegas & Viñedos Neo, another winery in the Burgos region that makes more big, tannic wines. There’s also Bodegas Valderiz, which is also near the town of Roa in the Burgos region. It’s wines are cheaper than the others but show the big, tannic structure. Most of these are pretty much organic wines.
Abadía de Acón, also in Burgos, makes some wonderful, elegant, but big wine. It’s a modern place and they couldn’t get organic certification because their neighbor was not organic and there was some drift - I don’t know if that’s changed or not. But those are also wines to lay down. Anyone who likes Bordeaux should like those.
Obviously you can’t forget Alejandro Fernandez and his wines. Pesquera is one of the classic wines from the region and one that helped get the designation in the first place. The wines are made from estate fruit near Valladolid, and they are completely different from those further northeast in Burgos. They have the classic Tempranillo funk and they’re done in American oak, but it’s usually neutral oak. They’re not quite as tannic as those from Burgos. Condado de Haza is slightly east of Pesquera and it’s the coldest region of the Fernández estates, harvested later than the others. The wines are also put into a combination of 225 and 300 liter neutral barrels. Near them is Bodegas Balbas which for some reason keeps dropping in and out of the US market. They add a touch of Cab to their wine and it’s again estate fruit. They do it in a combination of French and American oak. Further west towards Pesquera is Bodegas Bohórquez, which is little-known in the US but respected in Spain.
There are a lot of wineries over there and you can find a lot of good wine for under $60 as well as for over $60. Good luck!
What Luis Gutierrez said in his latest article on Ribera del Duero was that the regional designation is too broad and should be split into more precise terroir-based appellations. That is similar to saying the RdD has “no” terroir.
I just had 2015 Aalto and really enjoyed it. It’s very polished, I’d say incredibly so for the $45ish price point, and it’s made in more of a new world style with a combination of both American and French new oak. While showing great polish and concentration, it was a bit monolithic for me (more so on day 1; it improved on day 2), but still delicious.
The Pesquera crianza is very reliable and can be had for less than $30. And it ages well. I drank a lovely 1994 last week. It was a bit past it’s peak (fruit thinning out a tad) but balanced and interesting— a complete pleasure.
I like Ribera del Duero. There are a lot of good, consistent values out there at $20-40, and they’re wines which drink well younger or can age. They’re often good orders off a restaurant list.
The downside, to me, is I find a lot of sameness. Purple berry fruit, graphite, good acids, a nice overall profile, but just pretty similar from one bottle to the next, one vintage to the next.
Of course, that reflects that I’m mostly just dabbling in the more commonly available ones, not mining the advanced corners of it as reflected in Greg’s excellent post above.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Hacienda Monasterio, which is now more tempranillo based than it was upon inception. I like that one a lot and buy / cellar it in the better years. If you like Flor de Pingus/Pingus give it a look since its the same winemaker. I used to think HdM could age like Bordeaux…but now have come around to the view that it should not be aged as long.
I’ve also liked Aalto*, Pesquera, Condado de Hazo but buy them less regularly.
Maybe its a question of what gets imported here, or market positioning, but it feels to me that most RDD’s are generally a touch too pricey.
If you can tolerate oak, check out Abadia Retuerta too, even if its in Sardon del Duero rather than RDD proper.
- they also have a bottling called PS which is fabulous, but I’ve only had it once, but it was very memorable.
I have found the Tempranillos from nearby Cigales to be much more restrained and civilized. Known mostly for rosados, there are some talented and dedicated red wine makers that have emerged. Prices are reflective of their lack of market impact.
just grabbed a half a case of the 2009 Pascuas Pedrosal Reserva. thanks for the tip.
Grabbing some Pesquera in the next few weeks as well.
I’m a big fan of Aalto! Never had Aalto PS though. Worth the difference in price?
Alejandro Fernandez Pesquera
I like these.
Yes, for me, because the fruit can cut through the oak. If you like Aalto, you clearly can stand big oak treatment.
2016 valderiz is great QPR for the $ (91.6 CT)
Also agree with previous poster on HdM. Really liked their 2013.
I’ve always been a big fan of Torremoron. Sub-$15 from 100+ year-old vines and no oak.