Red wines from Spain

Robust, full-bodied Catalonian red, bursting with cassis, coffee, cedar and liquorice notes. There's the richness of fruitcake too—this is a relatively extravagant style. Silky-smooth tannins and a long, complex finish.

Oak aged for one year in a combination of French and American wood, with five further months ageing in stainless steel and then a year's cellaring in bottle before release.

This organic red would make a great choice if you're planning to cook fillet steak, rack of lamb or even good homemade burgers. If you don't care for meat, you may be interested to know that it's vegan certified too and a sturdy match for the rich, smoky flavours of aubergine or good mushrooms.

Mas Codina sits in the Alt Penedès, Catalonia, and is protected by two benevolent mountain ranges. All the fruit it uses is estate-grown.

Inky-hued, perfumed red with hedonistic, opulent aromas and flavours of ripe blackberry, liquorice, prune and spiced raspberry. Earth, leather and cigar-box notes add complexity to a categorically full-bodied wine with rounded tannins and a sumptuous, neverending finish.

This is a real must-try wine from a star winemaker, and a powerful partner for full-blooded dishes such as fillet steak, hearty casseroles, or spiced sausages.

The photo below shows Acústic Celler winemaker Albert Jané getting his teeth into the distinctive llicorella soil of the Priorat and Montsant area. A mix of ancient slate and quartz, it contributes largely to the unique terroir expressed in Albert's organically produced and singingly ‘acoustic’ wines.

‘Full-bodied but deliciously smooth and opulent, with rich dark fruits, plenty of spice, and well-integrated tannins on the finish. The Acústic red is also well worth trying. With barbecued beef.’
John Wilson, Irish Times January 2019 (link)

“Acústic (makers of Braó) produces wines from 40- to 65-year-old vines ... The wines offer the aromas and flavours of Priorat at a far more friendly price.”
Robert Parker

Concentrated and seductive Ribera exuding alluring notes of grilled meats, leather, raisins and figs, overlaid with spicy mocha, hazelnut and cedar. A huge amount going on in the glass! Potent, masculine and ageworthy.

Drink this very full-flavoured and powerful Spanish red either on its own as a vino da meditazione or else alongside special roast dinners or winter suppers featuring wild fowl or game.

Ruby red with crimson hues and purplish glints. Aromas of red and black fruits mix with liquorice, meaty notes, light vanilla aromas and a delicate, yet persistent spicing.

“Balsamic, pepper and juicy vanilla flavours make this profound and complex,”

GOLD MEDAL Sommelier Wine Awards 2013 Spain: North & North East, including Navarra & Priorat

Massive, brooding Priorat, with complex, savoury black fruit, violets and olive tapenade flavours. Stony, minerally finish.

Drink, after decanting, with Beef Wellington, roast duck, or rib-eye steak.

Ritme is lovingly crafted from ancient, hand-harvested Carignan and Grenache vines bedded into the famous licorella soil (quartz, slate) of Priorat. Aged for ten months in French oak prior to bottling.

‘Priorat is one of the world's few first-class wines to be made from garnacha, together with some of the unfashionable cariñena ... The age of the vines and concomitantly extremely low yields (0.3 ton/acre) contribute to the intensity and strength of Priorat.’
The Oxford Companion to Wine

Castilian gold!

This imposing red comes from vineyards on superior plots of land that give the finished wine great complexity and at the same time appetizing freshness.

The Oro crianza spends fourteen months in French (70%) and American (30%) oak, which gives its dark fruit aromas layers of spice and toast and enhances the inky, peaty mineral notes supplied by the deep-rooted vines.

This is a powerful but balanced wine, with soft tannins and juicy persistence. Pure Tempranillo fruit means plenty of rounded fruit character, but the dark mineral depths play their part too.

This is the potent and intense Reserva-level Rioja from Bodegas Baigorri, a landmark tiered winery that commands a panoramic view over the vines of the estate.

The dark livery of the bottle anticipates the contents' rich, enticing aromas of dark fruits and raspberry and strawberry jam, with suggestions of the layers of flavour to come. It's a full-bodied wine that reveals a harmony of flavours on the palate from juicy red fruits through smooth, plummy depths to much darker, deeper hints of cocoa and leather from its eighteen months in new oak.

This balance of freshness and intensity makes Baigorri Reserva an obvious choice for red meat dishes, but its finesse means that it wouldn't overpower lighter meals, and it might do very well with a ratatouille or rich vegetable recipes too.

The Rioja style of red wine seems never to go out of fashion, and this attractive crianza combines lashings of ripe fruit with toasty tobacco and leather flavours from twelve months' ageing in third-generation French and American oak barrels.

It's fresh and aromatic, and although the crianza effect is apparent and authentic, it's by no means too big or oaky a wine for everyday enjoyment with savoury meals.

This wine is a blend of Tempranillo and Garnacha grapes from the Don Sancho de Londoño family winery, which was established in 2004 as the realization of a dream and named after a local military hero of the sixteenth century.

Made with the local Prieto Picudo grape variety, this rich red has intense aromas of berry fruit combined with delicate cocoa, vanilla and spice. It's smooth, with ripe fruit flavours and hints of minerals and liquorice. There are floral suggestions too, and this would make a perfect partner for herb-flavoured meat dishes like a lamb roast or a creamy curry.

The Antona García selection has complex and intense aromas, and a deep, velvety red colour with ruby highlights that suggest the fine balance of fruit concentration and minerality in the wine.

Rich flavours of blackberries and plum are shot through with brisker mineral elements and a red-berry juiciness, while eleven months' ageing in French, Hungarian and American oak barrels has a distinctive influence on the secondary flavours, with hints of vanilla and a soft, satiny texture mellowing the wine's fruit freshness.

This is certain to impress Rioja enthusiasts as well as fans of the generally fuller, bolder wines of Toro made from the local Tempranillo clone,Tinta de Toro.

Distinctive, handsome packaging and the fact that this wine has its own website reflect the passion that winemaker Mario Remesal has put into the Antona García project.

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Full-bodied, supple, dark-fruited red blend from the vertiginous slopes of Montsant, a DO in Cataluña that encircles the better-known and more expensive Priorat.

An inviting and invigorating fragrance of cedar, spice box, and black cherry leads on to a smooth, ripe-berried palate of considerable complexity and power. Silky tannins imbue this Samsó (Carignan) based Penedès blend with a dusty plushness that is very appealing.

Enjoy Acústic with hearty casseroles and grilled meats, or to make an impression at any gathering where good wine is called for.

Acústic produces wines from 40- to 65-year-old Samsó, the local name for Cariñena, and Garnacha. The wine offers the aromas and flavours of Priorat at a far more friendly price. The Wine Buyer's Guide

Catalonia’s Montsant DO was carved out of the Tarragona DO in 2001. This promotion came about as a result of the region's consistent ability to produce high-quality wines, and a need to establish a separate identity for its prime high-altitude vineyards. Monsant, which lies west of Tarragona, almost completely surrounds the more well-known Priorat.

Most of the prized sites within Monsant are located on elevated steep slopes, where the vines enjoy long Mediterranean sunshine during the day and cold temperatures at night, assisting in the development of aromas while maintaining vital acidity in the grapes. The soil here is a local specialty known as llicorella, which is high in granite and slate components.

Montsant has earned a reputation for its high-quality red wines in particular; especially those based on old Garnacha (Grenache) and Samsó (Carignan) vines. Tempranillo (called Ull de Llebre locally) and international varieties also do well here. A small quantity of white (Chardonnay, Macabeo and Garnacha Blanca) is produced, along with rosé and sweet wines.

A very mellow and satisfying Spanish red that shows off the particular qualities of the Prieto Picudo grape from the Valles de Benavente region where northern Spain borders Portugal.

The wine has a dark cherry red colour and profound aromas of rich dark fruits  balanced with the secondary flavours of toast and spices from its two years' ageing in French and American oak casks.

Smooth on the palate, but with good acidity and delicate spicy and balsamic notes, it's an excellent, structured but generous match for a rich beef or game stew.

The name of this wine, Plaer, means ‘pleasure’.

You may not need more persuading than that, but this old vine Priorat is a powerful, complex wine with enticing jammy aromas and an uplifting mineral energy. Red fruit juiciness and darker, velvety depths sustain its dense flavours for simply ages.

The Priorat vines that Albert Jané uses for this wine are all between forty and sixty years old, and grow on a number of the choicest plots in the Priorat DOQ. All the vineyards are based on llicorella soil, and minimal interference in the vines and cellar gives a robust expression of this slate terroir.

The grapes are harvested by hand, with selection carried out in the vineyards and again in the cellar. The resulting wine is aged for twelve months in one year old French oak barrels.

‘Bright violet color. A zesty mineral quality gives loft and focus to sexy aromas of candied flowers and red and dark berry preserves. The juicy, incisive and gently sweet palate offers black raspberry, floral pastille and a late touch of candied licorice. Fine-grained tannins rein in the exuberant fruit on the long and energetic finish. A powerful but finessed wine.’
Stephen Tanzer, Vinous

There has been the by now nearly customary heap of awards for the 2016 vintage of Plaer:

• 93/100, Guía Peñín 2019
• 94/100, Guia Intervinos 2019
• 94.62/100, Guía Wine Up! 2019
• 9.33/10 La Guia de Vins de Catalunya 2019
• 95/100, Guía de Vinos Gourmets 2019
• 90/100, Guía Vivir el Vino 2019