Spain’s evolution from old world linearity to new world opulence is readily apparent in our Top 100 list from the country. Its departure from time-worn recipes and conventional winemaking have given rise to more drinkable, gastronomic wines. With the release of new vintages, such as 2018, 2019 and 2020, the JamesSuckling.com tasting team has seen rich, beautifully plush, concentrated wines deliver freshness and often striking detail. Spain’s premier winemakers have been at the forefront of this stylistic revolution, delivering three 100-pointers to our top 100 list, from the total of 2,800 wines we tasted from Spain over the course of the year.
Among the three, two are from Telmo Rodriguez – Spain’s provocative guardian of terroir individuality. Rodriguez has kept a laser-sharp focus on the northern part of the country, particularly in Rioja Alavesa, where his Bodega Lanzaga and Remelluri wines have revived a tradition that goes back to the late 18th Century – an era that predates the modernization and industrialization of Rioja. Our Spanish wine of 2022 – the Yjar Rioja 2018 – is from a 3.8-hectare vineyard that tips its hat to exceptional terroir and artisanal winemaking and has morphed into the new icon of Spain in only its second vintage.
The cooler 2018 Yjar is dialed back from its debut vintage in 2017 but shows even more nuance and complexity. The field blend of tempranillo, graciano, garnacha, gran negro and rojal from the limestone-rich soils of the Sierra de Toloño foothills shows composed sophistication, with a restrained sense of plushness and class and a fine oak touch, but nothing toasty or woody. It is a wine with fascinating ripeness, yet it remains fresh and juicy at the same time with high acidity and relatively low pH, which translates into a blue fruit profile with violets and freshly chopped herbs.
As the first Spanish wine sold through La Place de Bordeaux, the Yjar Rioja 2018 is the best value among the 100-pointers from Spain this year, with a current pre-arrival price at around $120 a bottle. In line with our past Top 100 lists, quality, value, the wow factor (the general impression at the time of tasting) and availability are our prime considerations in the rankings.
The other 100-pointer from Rodriguez, the Compañia de Vinos Telmo Rodriguez Rioja Las Beatas 2019 (13th place), is another sensational wine with an effortless, Burgundian sensibility. The violet character on the nose is so scented and vivid that it renders a floral purity – something unique to Las Beatas and a quality that we rarely find in Rioja. Coming from the 1.9-hectare Las Beatas vineyard, a grand cru doppelganger that Rodriguez considers Rioja’s version of a great vineyard in Vosne-Romanee, the wine shows the “flair” of the place, and that is what makes such a great Rioja effortless.
“When we found Las Beatas, we knew we had found an amazing talent,” Rodriguez said of the terroir’s potential to birth striking wines. While depth and sophistication define the Yjar 2018 with a Bordeaux finesse, Las Beatas is a true talent, reminding us of the finest Burgundy. It is also the third time Las Beatas has received a perfect score, after 2018 and 2016.
READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF SPAIN 2021
A few other single-vineyard offerings from Bodega Lanzaga also showed incredibly well, each expressing an individual personality. The Bodega Lanzaga Rioja La Estrada 2019 (4th place) is tangy and peppery, while the Bodega Lanzaga Rioja El Velado 2019 (11th place) is deep, yet pure and mineral. Rodriguez’s white Granja de Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja Blanco 2019 (16th place), meanwhile, is a distinctive expression from the previous vintage, which leans toward a style that is more Chablis-like rather than, say, Meursault, with striking minerality, linearity and tautness.
The third 100-pointer on our list, the Alvaro Palacios Priorat L’Ermita 2020 (28th place), is one of the most expensive wines from Spain, with an average retail price of $1,200 per bottle. But it lives up to the hype, delivering surprising opulence from a rather tricky vintage that had to survive the challenges of rain and mildew. The wine shows an unwavering commitment to supreme quality with some of the most hedonistic tannins, depth, poise and sensuality that you could ever expect from a garnacha-based red, and nothing is overdone. Another single-vineyard “cru,” the Alvaro Palacios Priorat La Baixada 2020 (9th place) is a more recent addition to the Palacios wine family and a more affordable alternative that is close in quality to L’Ermita with an attractive mineral purity.
The racy, pinot sensibility of Spanish garnacha is showcased in our Top 100 through the avant-garde winemakers Daniel Landi and Fernando Garcia, who make unflinchingly, airy reds in central Spain. Their Comando G Vino de Madrid Las Umbrias 2019 (6th place) from Sierra de Gredos delivers a distinctively complex and savory expression of garnacha with zesty fruit – a solid statement for garnacha’s Mediterranean identity and its gastronomic purity and clarity. Other Comando G and Daniel Landi wines are equally exciting, and we see the scarcity and the high demand are driving up the price of these unique, terroir-sensitive garnachas.
From Montsant and Priorat, the Coreografia Montsant 2021 (51st place) and Terroir al Limit Priorat Arbossar 2020 (27th place) deliver authentic, cerebral wines that follow the philosophy of less is more, taking out the ego of the winemakers, according to Dominik Huber, the owner of Terroir Al Limit. The Priorat Arbossar 2020 is a laudable example of how old-vine carignan from the slate and granite-rich soils of the 1.6-hectare vineyard reflect the landscape, with its vivid Mediterranean herbs and pure, nimble blue fruit. All the wines today from Terroir Al Limit are oak-free without deliberate extraction – or “infusion winemaking” at its finest.
Spain’s gastronomic transparency is also highlighted in our Top 100 list through grapes such as albariño, with top wines from producers such as Pazo Barrantes, Zarate and Attis pushing quality to new heights. “For us, albariño is one of the best white grape varieties in the world, and it’s not just made for early drinking. It has a lifted acidity that needs time to let it settle,” said Maria Vargas, the winemaker for Pazo Barrantes and Marqués de Murrieta. The Pazo Barrantes Rias Baixas La Comtesse 2018 (50th place) is an aged albariño with excellent ripeness, texture and density that will be released soon.
READ MORE: TOP 100 WINES OF THE WORLD 2022 AND OUR WINE OF THE YEAR
The new releases of Envínate wines also put the Canary Islands on our Top 100 list. We were impressed by the tangy, peppery listan negro Envínate Vinos Atlánticos Migan 2020 (26th place) and the flinty, reductive listan blanco/palomino Envínate Vinos Atlánticos Palo Blanco 2020 (10th place). The latter is from century-old, ungrafted and braided listan blanco vines from Tenerife’s Valle de la Orotava that are genuinely unique and terroir-transparent, delivering Atlantic freshness with electric acidity and elastic, mineral tension at just 11.5 percent alcohol. The style? Maybe Tenerife’s answer to fine Burgundy!
Established names and new classics from Rioja, such as Artadi, Roda, Muga, Lopez de Heredia, CVNE, Marques de Murrieta and Marques de Riscal, all delivered uncompromising wines – either of classic quality or reflective of the more modern, terroir-driven style. One of the top Riojas that over-delivers on value this year is the CUNE Rioja Imperial Gran Reserva 2016, which came in 5th place. It is a solid, classic Rioja that keeps getting more fine-tuned with polished, ultra-fine tannins, incredible length and oak integration.
The regions of Ribera del Duero and Toro also excelled with the trio of 2018, 2019 and 2020 vintages, landing 17 and three wines, respectively, on this Top 100 list. The cooler Atlantic 2018 vintage offset Toro’s trademark power, ripeness and concentration with juicier, brighter fruit – a fine quality cherished in a deep and full-bodied Toro red. Tempos Vega Sicilia’s Toro project, the Pintia Toro 2018 (19th place), delivered one of its finest wines in 2018, showing the depths of brooding, tarry black and blue fruit with delineated mineral and floral purity. For Ribera del Duero, a few producers, such as Bodegas y Viñedos Tabula, Aster Finca El Otero, Valdemonjas and Emilio Moro, made it onto the Top 100 list with their 2018s, marrying juicy, blue fruit and polished wines to power and richness.
From the outstanding 2019 and 2020 vintages, Ribera del Duero tends to be intrinsically concentrated and opulent yet fresh. The top wines from 2020 are even brighter and more fragrant than the deep, intense, powerful 2019s. While the pricy Dominio de Es Ribera del Duero La Diva 2020 (98th place) offers cerebral purity and elegance, bottles like Bodegas Aalto Ribera del Duero PS 2020 (40th place) deliver the typically hedonistic, deep yet scented Ribera del Duero character from this vintage, with velvety and lush tannins in abundance.
Three exceptional sherries and one outstanding Cava are also included in this year’s Top 100 list. In 2nd place on the list is the Lustau Jerez Amontillado VORS 30 Years Old NV, a sublime, salty Amontillado that shows mind-blowing complexity, length, linearity and finesse. It is one of the best Amontillados we have tasted this year, along with the Gonzalez Byass Jerez Tio Pepe Cuatro Palmas Amontillado NV (7th place), a rare, precious sherry nectar that comes with even more concentration. If you are a fan of dry sherries, then you won’t want to miss these two unique, extremely complex and intense Amontillados, which left us gobsmacked.
We hope you find this year’s Top 100 Spanish wines a helpful reference in exploring the country’s blooming diversity, focused on terroir transparency and gastronomic identity. While many fresh, racy and drinkable bottles underscore the talent coming out of Spain and its ever-changing winemaking scene, the richer and more powerful and opulent expressions that get fine-tuned with better freshness and more integrated oak will find a place in the market, too. Spain has everything you need for your wine list and more…
– Zekun Shuai, Senior Editor
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