“Could easily become something of a cult wine.” – Drinks Business

Dripping with plum fruit, spice, and pepper notes with fine tannins and an intensely lingering finish, this double 96pt powerhouse red (with double 95s to back it up) is an exceptional value, especially when compared to some of the region’s more famous wines reviewed by Wine Advocate (Vega Sicilia ‘Alion’ – 95pts, $150; Pingus ‘Amelia’ – 95pts, $325; Dominio de ES ‘la Mata’ – 95pts, $625!).

Today’s wine – Less than $60?!

“The best Matallana I have ever tasted,” raved Decanter, commenting that it had attained a “tightly grained finesse” of the top wines of the region.

If you like full-bodied reds with a complex array of spice notes and toasted oak with a long savory finish, you owe it to yourself to grab a few bottles.

Oh, and the good news - if you head to our store, there are other vintages available.

Helmed by Telmo Rodriguez, internationally renowned for pioneering and terroir-based approach to Rioja, partnering with Pablo Eguzkiza, the “The Lord of Terroir” in Spain, according to Guía Peñín, they have created a singular Ribera del Duero in Matallana form old vines across a variety of soil types from 5 different villages and 11 vineyard locations in the region. Not allowed by government regulation to list them, in protest, they redacted them on the front label! (We do love a good top-secret document!!!)

And, again, did we mention IT’S LESS THAN $60?!

If you don’t know Ribera del Duero, here is your chance to discover what you’re missing.

Despite a winemaking tradition stretching back to Roman times, Ribera del Duero was a relatively obscure region in Spain, hidden by the shadow of the more famous Rioja until the 1980s. Enter Vega Sicilia (1982) and Pingus (1995). Using top-secret vineyard sources and blending Tinto Fino (the local name for Tempranillo) with other indigenous and sometimes French varieties, they created wines that stood apart. That grabbed the attention of critics and collectors.

Today, their top-bottlings wines have cult status and (justifiably) stratospheric prices (think $500-$1000+). Telmo Rodriguez was also an early pioneer here, producing Matallana since 1998. Yet it didn’t attract the same critical attention of his projects in Rioja – until recently.

Since then, Vega Sicilia and Pingus have expanded with other Ribera del Duero labels. And there have been many producers in the region to join them in making beautifully dense and complex expressions. But rarely this good… and definitely not at this price!

The 2020 vintage suffered some adverse weather in the form of rain throughout the growing season and harvest. But this is where experts like Telmo and his team shine! For their efforts, Wine Advocate awarded them a staggering 96pts – it’s their third-highest rating for the vintage in the region! (and the other are a LOT more expensive!)

Hopefully you are convinced. Matallana is arguably the next big thing. A cult wine in the making.

Score some today – at a stunning 53% off! – before the secret is out.

(Bragging rights for turning your friends onto this Spanish powerhouse? Free of charge.)

96-Points – Wine Advocate “Telmo Rodríguez and his partner Pablo Eguzkiza keep working in different regions, although still quite focused in Galicia, reducing the volumes for entry-level wines and going for more serious wines, moving away from generic varietal bottlings and going more for site-designated wines. I tasted the fine wine portfolio that has just been released, different vintages depending on the place, looking at the very small details of each. There is a change in the 2020 Matallana, as they have included Jean-Guillaume Prats (ex-Cos d’Estournel, ex-Lafite…) in the Ribera del Duero project, and the wine is going to be sold for the first time with this vintage through the négociant system of La Place de Bordeaux. The grapes from the five villages (mentioned but then crossed out on the label) were picked between the sixth and 18th of October and fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and oak vats. The wine matured in French oak barrels for 14 months. This is a little riper than the 2019 I tasted next to it, despite both being 14.5% alcohol (at least on the label). It follows the path of seriousness and austerity of the last few vintages and has a very calcareous mouthfeel with chalky tannins that lift up the finish. 19,624 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2022. Drink 2024 – 2032.

96-Points – Inside Bordeaux “First time on the Place, from Vinedos de Matallana, care of the iconic winemaking partnership between Telmo Rodriguez and Pablo Eguzkiza, produced with fruit from plots across Burgos. The pair’s signature mix of intensity and concentration playing against delicacy and reserved power is fully on dispay, a combination that should be imposible to achieve in the heat of Ribera del Duero. It’s earthy, in the sense that it feels hewn from rocks that give a feeling of slate, granite, steely tannic hold, fine but intense, all of which melts into fragrant gunsmoke, oyster shell, lemon rind, raspberry, pomegranate and red cherry fruits. The flavours are toasted and yet cooling, a wine of contasts and texture, and utterly compelling. Powerful yet the barest lightness of being. Begs you to find out more. Lucky us that these wines are going through the Place, bringing them to wider attention.”

95-Points – Decanter “The best Matallana I have ever tasted, developing the best and most elusive quality in top Ribera: tightly grained finesse. Delicate aromas, with blackberry fruit and spicy notes from the oak that are enhancing the fruit. Dense but not overpowering in palate, silky, poised, tight but gentle. Toffee and blueberries in aftertaste, still a bit close. The wine needs some years to open up. Very good ribera, with a distinctive character. Drink 2023 – 2045.”

95-Points – James Suckling “A very elegant and complex red with super fine tannins that show a chalky and subtle white pepper character. Medium body. Fine integrated tannins which are creamy. Yet they are chewy and very typical for the region. So attractive now but this is built to age beautifully. A very refined wine for Ribera del Duero. Drinkable now, but better in three or four years.”