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La cuesta de enero 2024
Or mortal coils shed off yet another year and with it, la cuesta de enero descends upon us. While literally meaning, "the slope of January" it's more aptly translated as "an uphill January" because in...
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Sierra de Toloño – Rosado 2020
The news in booze as of late, isn’t terribly good from most point of views. I say “most” as it depends upon which side of the aisle you’re on in terms of drinking, but if you’re reading this...
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Six Reserva wines to know from DOC Rioja
For me, the Reserva category is one of the more curious components to the wines of DOC Rioja. I was in fact so curious about that I dedicated a good deal of my 2023 Rioja report to the subject. The...
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Artadi’s 2021s
If there’s one thing that the winery Artadi is well-known for, it’s making quite fine wines up in the Rioja Alavesa region. If there is perhaps a second item that they’re also well-known for, it would...
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Spain opens up green harvest funds for 2024
While everyone was busy talking about 60,000 liters of intentionally-spilled wine in Ribera del Duero, another interesting item in Spanish wine news came to be which was the commitment of 21.4€ million...
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Bodegas Ausàs – Interpretación 2021
Reverse psychology can be a bitch when selling a wine. I say this as I have to assume that the following quote from a recent article reviewing wines from Ribera del Duero was attempting such a ploy:...
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Spain’s newest Vino de Pago: Rosalejo
Following upon the news of Spain's newest DO in a decade and a half granted to Campo de Calatrava is its newest PDO for a Vino de Pago called, "Rosalejo". Located in the region of Castilla-La Mancha,...
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Your Madrid caviste
In Spain, the caviste doesn’t seem nearly as important as it does in France where the concept of a wine shop owner is much more central to life. After all, if shopping for wine, it makes life a great...
View ArticleBodega Laus 2023s, DO Somontano, Spain
Here are the current releases for Bodegas Laus, a winery which I was first introduced to for the last DO Somontano report. While they have one aged, ‘Crianza’ wine, the main speciality of the winery is...
View ArticleRibera del Duero: Dominio del Soto, Pagos d’Anguix
This is an interesting selection of wines from DO Ribera del Duero. First are the wines of Dominio del Soto. This is a winery owned by Northern Rhône biggie, M. Chapoutier. Because of the recent...
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Estévez – Versos de Valtuille – La Vitoriana 2021
It’s amazing how what we perceive as fixed, is never actually set in stone. You change even one piece of a greater entity and it’s just “different” even if it’s still “good”. Case in point, the Rolling...
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The wines of Alicante 2024
Alicante came to be as a DO in the 1930s, but it wasn’t given a full regulatory council until 1957 as was the case for all the DOs in Valencia for some reason. But, much like the oldest DOs in Spain...
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Gil Family Estates 2024
A name in Spanish wine that a great many people have encountered is that of Juan Gil, part of the Gil Family Estates. With their first wines bottled in 1916, they’ve long-been an established name on...
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Rioja to continue with harvest reductions for 2024
For the 2024 harvest, the governing council of DOC Rioja has officially endorsed harvest yields for red grape varieties that are at 90% of what is allowed while white varieties remain the same. This...
View ArticleHispano-Suizas, València, Spain
This is a new tasting that picks up from the previous one of Hispano-Suizas in the València region. The main takeaway from this is how vintage-dependent their wines are as there were some large swings...
View ArticlePinea, Ribera del Duero, Spain
Pinea is a relatively new project from Ribera del Duero that’s based in the northern part of the region, in Quintanamanvirgo, founded by childhood friends, Vicente Pliego and Hugo Del Pozzo. Via their...
View ArticleBodegas la Horra, Ribera del Duero, Spain
Here we have a look at the current vintages from the well-known Bodegas la Horra in Ribera del Duero which I tasted in Haro, Rioja which researching the larger Rioja Report that’s arriving shortly. La...
View ArticleVins Nadal, Mallorca, Spain
I was first introduced to Vins Nadal (not be confused with the sparkling producer in Catalunya, Nadal) when working on the previous Mallorca report and I paid them a visit at their cellar in...
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The wines of DOC Rioja 2024
My annual visit to Rioja constantly nudges at me from the corners of my mind throughout the year. A large mountain on the horizon that always leaves me wondering how on earth I’m ever going to properly...
View ArticleViña Vilano, Ribera del Duero, Spain
This builds upon the previous tasting of the wines of Viña Vilano located in DO Ribera del Duero. Founded in 1957, they represent a true old school producer, but at the same time, they really...
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