Another WIA must go out for the most popular Spanish wine of 2023!

After all, it was a banner year for Wine Spies and Iberia, with dozens of wines, vintages ranging from 1978 through 2018, whites, pinks, reds, you name it. Spain may have said ¡hasta luego! to the World Cup, but they sure make helluva great wine there at incredible prices.

Crowd-pleasing CREEEEANZA! 92 POINTS Wine Enthusiast (honestly tastes like a 94 to us) and was a HUGE office favorite at our tasting out of 30+ wines that week.

The sheer value here is hard to imagine. SO much succulent, crunchy, juicy red fruit. Structure, too. An utterly beautiful example. This is your drink-me-every-day, instant “did we just become best friends” red. If you enjoy ANY sort of red wine - big Napa Cabs to light juicy Pinots - you’ll adore it. If not, write to us and we will cook you dinner. Or DoorDash you one.

This represents a modern spin on the style. Single vineyard, meticulously farmed and crafted from start to finish. LOADED with succulent, lush red fruits. Both light on its feet and brimming with structure and ripeness. Baskets of ripe summer berries? Oh yes. A hint of Turkish coffee? Indeed. Toasty oak, a dusting of cardamom? Yup. Perfectly mellow but sturdy tannins? All there.

Finally, we’ll just leave you with a little snippet from Decanter: “…prices for Rioja remain reasonable compared to other fine wine-producing regions.”

Reasonable? It’s downright shocking how good this is for the price, and that we have just a few more cases for you. Viva España!

92 Points – Wine Enthusiast

“Dark garnet in color, this wine has a bouquet of cassis, clove, and Red Delicious apple peel. Hefty tannins provide an ample backdrop for flavors of black cherry, strawberry, anisette, clove, and mint that culminate in a rich, spicy finish.”