My local store told me that the Emilio Moro wine one step up from the Crianza, but not the Malleus, is now being sold at the vineyard, but that it won’t be available locally fir 3-5 years. Meanwhile, the Cune Reserva is no longer out of stock locally, so I picked up a couple of bottles instead of the Trig Point or the Emilio Moro Crianza or Cune Crianza that I’ve been getting the last couple of years. I drew off a bit of Trig Point and a bit of Emilio Moro Reserva with my coravin and I’m taste testing them side by side right now. I have to say the Cune is more my thing. I wish I had some Emilio Moro to test as well. Don’t worry, no port was added to these wines.
Jen - I don’t know which EM you are referring to - the Vendimia Seleccionada?
They stopped using the crianza/reserva designations back in the 1990s but the VS is usually aged in barrels for 12 months. But that wine will be quite different from the CVNE. Emilio Moro is in Ribera del Duero near Valladolid. The grapes from their vineyard are small, dark, and very tannic and it shows in the wines. In fact, all of the wines from RdD are generally more tannic and bigger than those from Rioja.
The CVNE reserva has to be aged a year longer to be called a reserva, but it happens to have had a year and a half in barrels, plus another year and a half in bottle. It’s also got a bit of Graciano, Garnacha, and Mazuelo in it rather than being 100 pct Tempranillo. It’s somewhat softer and smoother and less astringent than the Emilio Moro wines.
And neither of them needs Port! So good for you. I have no clue what Trig Point is but I’m assuming it’s California and therefore not Tempranillo-based. Probably not as good as either of the others, but again, that’s just my assumption since I know and like both of those.
Yes, I think the EM was labeled “Select,” or similar. I recall liking it better than the Cune Reserva, but I did not have a Coravin back then, and I never had a chance to compare them contemporaneously.
I find that with the lower end EM and the Cune Crianza, I can get some good bottles but it’s hit or miss. They are sometimes too acidic for me, and I balance them with a spoonful of lbv or tawny port.