A stand-out at our tasting - a selection based on older vines. Soft purple hue, just showing a hint of age. Enticing aromas of cooked fruit, vanilla and sealing wax. This is a really ripe, delectably fat wine, but it also shows vigorous black fruit and is enlivened by the sharpness of fresh blackcurrants. The aromatics unfold so well on the palate, and there’s a plush backing of tannins too. Complete, perfectly ready to drink now, and so impressive. Now-2014

Product Code: LAR305

Winemaker José Antonio Meruelo crafts one white Rioja and a range of reds, the latter all from 100% Tempranillo. Here the grapes are largely bought in fromm contracted growers nearby, with vines at about 600 metres, and the altitude brings real freshness to the wines. These are traditionally styled Riojas - but without any of the old-fashioned vices of overlong ageing in tired wood. The three top wines are all from 2005, a great vintage in Rioja, rightly classified by the authorities as “exceptional” . We don’t normally ship so many wines from one winery, but thought all these merited listing. This is a great find.