Made from Godello grapes and showing racy citrus and saline flavours.

Made by Al and his pal, Nacho Alvarez

Grapes: Monastrell (Mourvèdre), Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah

93/100 Wine Spectator

“Bright cherry, berry and currant flavours mingle with liquorice, black tea and mineral notes, giving way to a floral and minerally finish. The firm tannins are well-integrated and juicy acidity keeps this lively.” 

Tasting Note: Intense cherry-red colour with violet shades. Delicate black fruit aroma with high roast and smoky features. Structured, subtle and smart palate, ripe appetising and a sweet tannins marked by elegance.

Winemaking Notes: This wine is the result of a rigorous selection process, choosing only the best grapes from the Monastrell and Cabernet Sauvignon variety. The grapes were harvested in the third week of October at their optimum ripening point in 15 kg boxes. The selected fruit was chosen by the same wise hands that did it the previous year. The grapes corresponding to each variety were macerated in contact with the skin and fermented for 20/30 days at a controlled temperature of 28oC. It has spent 12 months in new french and american oak barrels.

Priorat is one of Spain's most esteemed regions for red wine, alongside Rioja & Ribera del Duero, and the most famous region for Grenache in Spain. The Llicorella slate and huge diurnal shifts contribute to powerful and ageable wines!

Made from Carinena & Garnacha fermented on skins for 11-12 days in stainless steel tanks at 24 degrees celcius. 70% was aged in French oak Barriques (20% new), & 30% in 30 hectolitre French oak foudres. 

Salmos is the spanish name for Psalms & is a tribute to the Carthusian Monks who first planted vines in Priorat.

Bodega Terras Gauda overlooks the gentle green countryside of Galicia in north west Spain where its vineyards are planted. Terras Gauda uses its own yeasts, selected from its vineyards. These yeasts are unique to the winery and have been patented. This is one of the reasons the TG wines are so consistent because they don’t need to rely on commercial yeasts.

Chill this wine to 12 degrees and break out your best seafood, recommends wine importer Sophie Cotter, who brings this wine into New Zealand. 

Albarino is on trend globally right now and originally comes from north west Spain and the north of Portugal, where makes its fresh, zesty, dry as a bone and super flavoursome taste go particularly well with seafood. This wine comes from Terras Gauda Winery on the Spanish side of the Minho River, which separates Portugal from Spain.This region and its Portuguese counterpart over the border is the original home for the Albarino grape, known in Portugal as Alvarinho.

100% Bobal from DO Manchuela near Cuenca. 

Bodegas Ponce has been at the forefront of modern Spanish wine since their inception in 2005. 

Juan Antonio Ponce's dream was to make wines with the old vineyards of his native Manchuela. He attended viticulture and enology school when he was 14 years old, and after five years of working with Telmo Rodriguez after his graduation he started his own winery Bodegas Ponce when he was 23 years old. Inspired by his years with Telmo and the growing minimal intervention movement in France. He approached his native varietal Bobal in a way unlike that of neighbors. Farming sustainably, with organic and biodynamic principles and harvesting the grapes weeks before his neighbors. In the winery he works simply and cleanly, whole bunch fermentation, native yeast fermentation and aging in old wood vats. His wines are more like those from Beaujolais and the Loire Valley than Rioja and Priorat. What is fascinating is that Manchuela is a region where the locals joke that there are nine months of winter and three months of hell, which sounds nothing like the bucolic hills of Beaujolais nor France’s garden, the Loire valley. The P.F. stands for Pie Franco. The vineyards for this wine range in age from 40 to 90 years old and they are all ungrafted. Juan Antonio’s wines are some of the most elegant wines being made in Spain.

Maravedi is the name of an ancient Spanish coin and this wine is an excellent blend of Chardonnay and Airen (an indigenous Spanish white grape). The flavours are smooth and creamy with Chardonnay strutting its flavoursome, approachable taste in every mouthful. It is made from dry farmed, organically certified vineyards in the La Mancha region of Spain, south of Madrid, which is Spain's largest wine region.

 José Luis Ripa is a fan of more 'serious' rosés (think Pibarnon, Trevallon, Tempier and the poster child of extended ageing Viña Tondonia).  His day job is commercial director at a well known winery in Haro, but in 2016 he managed to get hold of some old-vine fruit from the Najerilla Valley, a tributary of the Ebro, and made his first vintage of Ripa Rosado. The wine is mainly Garnacha with a touch of Tempranillo, the must is drawn-off slowly, then fermented and aged for 18-24 months in large oak vats, called bocoyes in Rioja. He only made 3,000 bottles in the first year, he's gradually increasing that, without losing the artisan vision of the project. After all, he has his wife María José López de Heredia to keep him focused!

A little deeper and probably more lactic than the 2019, but a little less exuberant. There are more dried herbs and minerals, with dried grapefruit and a touch of Aperol. Unique in style, which makes you think of a young Lopez de Heredia rosado (and you wouldn't be surprised if you find who makes this). Textured, full and harmonious despite higher alcohol. Cheerful and unassuming at the same time.

-James Suckling

Cabernet Sauvignon (70%) plus Garnatxa, Sumoll, and other autochthonous varieties from Penedes in north west Spain

The Mas Candi vineyard is situated in Les Gunyoles in Avinyonet del Penedes. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are picked from vineyard planted in 1982, using no chemical fertilizers, antifungal treatments or pesticides. Other varieties come from a 0.5 ha vineyard planted with Mando, Cannonnau (old Catalan Grenache grown in Sardinia), Monica (Sardinia) and Sumoll. Soils are composed of calcareous clay and gravel. Vineyard altitude is 300 metres above sea level, and the climate is Mediterranean.

Grapes are hand harvested in small bins and the wine is fermented in stainless steel tanks and aged for 12 months on its lees before bottling.

Sweet, supple, spicy, warm black cherry and blackberry fruit with a lovely smooth texture and notes of tea, herbs and spice. Warm and ripe and mellow with lovely balance and well integrated oak. Supremely balanced.

A gorgeous fruit forward, modern Rioja with minimal oak use from the Rioja Alavesa region; the smallest of the Rioja sub-regions and comparable to Rioja Alta in terms of its high quality. The nose is pure and expressive of dark cherries and bramble fruit and the palate shows depth and purity with superb balance from fine chalky tannins and keen acidity. 

Tempranillo is the king and queen of Spanish grape varieties with over 206,000 hectares in that country’s entire vineyard area, making it the most planted red grape variety and the second most overall after the little known white Spanish grape called Airen. 

This tasty and super affordable, dry Spanish red is made from organically certified vineyards in Uclés in Castile, Spain, where the vines are grown as part of an integrated ecosystem, along with old oak trees. This region's continental climate provides hot sunny days and cool nights, which provide favourable ripening conditions for the Tempranillo grape. 

The grapes in this wine are harvested in the cool of night and early morning, given a light crush and fermented in stainless steel to preserve fruit freshness. Maceration is typically eight to 10 days and no oak is used in the winemaking, so the fruit is hero in this smooth, medium bodied red. 

The name Tempranillo comes from the Spanish word temprano, which means early. It’s apt. Tempranillo is an early grape to bud in spring and it ripens early in autumn. Along with its big bunches of small, thick skinned grapes and relatively big yields (that’s means it provides a lot of grapes to harvest and make wine from), it’s a successful grape to grow. As for the taste, Tempranillo’s character tends to be soft, smooth, bright and fruity. What’s not to love? There’s