THE 100-POINTS WINES PEÑIN GUIDE
CONTADOR LAS PAULEJAS 2020
Type: Red
Grape varieties: 100% tempranillo
Producer: Bodega Contador
Benjamín Romeo’s project officially began in 1996 with the first vintage of his debut wine: La Cueva del Contador. This was the start of this winemaker and vine-grower’s personal project, which would eventually become one of the most renowned forerunners of the new Rioja.
Production area: DO La Rioja POINTS POINTS
Looking back, we can see that Benjamin was one of Artadi’s biggest champions. Together with Juan Carlos López de Lacalle, he created a hugely important part of this bodega’s identity, which gives us an idea of the importance and weight of his influence when he decided to go it alone.
His most iconic wine until then, Contador had already achieved significant success, right from its first vintage. Over time the reputation of this bodega grew; it was the epitome of the “new Rioja” at the start of the 21st century, a model that was quickly assimilated by many small-scale producers who saw in Benjamin a way forward.
Contador owes its success as a bodega to being able to create a style that is both lasting and active in its search for the authenticity of its place of origin and modernity in its fruit expression. It distances itself from the Rioja whose identity revolved around the earthy tones generated by its lengthy ageing in oak barrels and in bottle.
Las Paulejas 2020 represents the pinnacle of a career at the service of wine and Benjamín Romeo’s lifelong obsession to create the world’s best Rioja. It shows the strength of a place like San Vicente de la Sonsierra, one of the region’s most unique spots with a power and style all of its own. If Contador is a paean to the magic of Sonsierra, Las Paulejas 2020 aims to shine the spotlight on a very special vineyard, Las Paulejas, which according to its founder boasts the best grapes he could possibly source.
Contador has style, restrained power, generous maturity, presence of quality oak, which is not invasive, and a very well-defined chalky tension. This wine arrived at our tasting table and made quite the impression from the outset. It masterfully combines all the pillars that underpin an excellent wine: perfectionism and attention to detail in the vineyard to achieve a pristine raw material; phenomenal bodega work to keep all the variables - fruit, wood, acidity, and soil - intact and balanced; and its original characteristic style. Contador’s style is most definitely present, and this is perhaps the most authentic attribute of this wine and the most difficult to achieve. This promises to be the start of a long future for this wine. So, we recommend that those lucky enough to get their hands on a bottle, which are limited to just 300 and fetch around €580 each, keep it safely locked away.
LES MANYES 2022
Type: Red
Grape varieties: Garnacha peluda
Producer: Terroir al Limit
Production area: DOQ Priorat
The 2022 vintage of Les Manyes is the Terroir al Limit project’s jewel in the crown in the Priorat DOQ (Qualified Designation of Origin). It marks a turning point for a wine house that is not afraid to forge a new path defining styles within a designation of origin steeped in history. Time has proven them right. This winery has found a new way forward in which elegance, fluidity, and terroir expression live together in perfect harmony in Priorat.
Les Manyes 2022 scored a solid 100 points. It evokes countryside and soil and has tension, with the freshest fruit and a stunning mineral undertone. Such expression is even more surprising from a hot, dry vintage like that of 2022. This proves that this is a wine that can achieve expression even in challenging times, provided it is tended to by experts and the place of origin is truly magical. Les Manyes is a west-facing vineyard located in Scala Dei, 800 metres up Monstant’s hillsides. It is ironic that the 2022 vintage of Les Manyes is the first to score 100 points, as the 2016 vintage was far more generous (99 points - 2020 Peñín Guide). However, we must add that at that time 99 points was the highest possible score given by the Peñín Guide, until the first 100 points were awarded in the 2023 edition.
2022 was a particularly difficult year for Priorat. This was the first vintage in the area
to be affected by endless heat waves and extremely scarce watering resources, which happened again in the 2023 vintage. Against the odds, the Priorat’s old goblet-trained vineyards, like those of Les Manyes, have a remarkable ability to adapt. We saw firsthand how the plants in neighbouring winegrowing areas looked parched from a lack of water and excess heat, while in Priorat they kept their shine and beauty, despite sharing the same climate conditions. This is undoubtedly thanks to the magic of Priorat, capable of breaking all moulds. Despite their resilience, these plants need the human touch; they adapt provided that their ground needs are met swiftly and decidedly. This had to be the case to obtain the excellent raw ingredients that went into this breathtaking wine.
This wine is also produced with the garnacha peluda, a variant of the garnacha grape with a furry leaf on the underside, which retains some moisture in the blazing sun. This project is made up of Dominik A. Huber at the helm, his young, sophisticated, and enthusiastic team, and some grapevines that are out of this world. We are sure that it has not been easy to gain a foothold in the town that has produced some of the biggest names in wine of Priorat, but this achievement is well-deserved and completely justified, even if their way of understanding wine was initially met with scepticism.
POINTS
BREAKTHROUGH WINE OF THE YEAR NOMINEES
Javier Luengo & Carlos González
It is now time for us to talk about the most distinctive and groundbreaking wines we have tasted this year. The Breakthrough Wine of the Year nominees are a handful of wines, sometimes just four, or maybe five or six, which stand out from the rest for their capacity to show us new and vibrant perspectives on winemaking.
As a rule, they are wines that go against the grain in terms of their style or philosophy. Their existence marks a turning point in their respective production areas or regions. They are difficult to find and very few manage to offer a truly original or cutting-edge style: following the beaten track is always a much safer bet.
The selection criteria for these wines require them to be pioneers in their places of origin, whether in terms of their production method, the philosophy behind their work, or their style, and not to have already been tasted by the Peñín Guide. The tasting must demonstrate their value, not only for the consumer, but also that they can achieve excellence by taking barely explored or completely novel routes.
TERRITORIO LUTHIER BLANCO DE GUARDA 2020
Type: White reserve
Grape varieties: Albillo mayor and pirulés
Producer: Territorio Luthier
Production area: DO Ribera del Duero
Territorio Luthier is a project that began in 2009, with a desire to “put elegance and subtlety above trends and reviews”. A solid starting point. Although we are wine critics, we believe that the path one takes must be noble and true to one’s own ideas, ignoring passing trends and notions of what wines should be. If done in this way, the rest will come naturally.
Territorio Luthier is inspired by the essence of the luthier: an “artisan who pursues an time-honoured craft, carving out wood and strings to create instruments which have gladdened hearts and souls for centuries”. This is the declaration of intent of Fernando Ortiz and Cristina Alonso, the owners of this impressive bodega. A more artistic concept is common among many small-scale wineries whose wines aim to achieve something unique, expressive, and moving. This wine does just that. This is the albillo mayor white from the Ribera del Duero DO that we were most impressed by. This is the one! Its arrival marks the first milestone in its short life under the Ribera del Duero DO. Until now many of the albillos tasted had not made it past the first stage as they went onto the market before reaching sufficient maturity. This was the reason behind the wine’s simple nature, making it fun but not overly complex. This wine proves that time is a friend that can give complexity to this Castilian grape. At first, this seemed to be true only for wines from the maritime regions of Galicia or the Basque Country, but this is not the case. In a different style, we can see the albillo from Ribera del Duero at its best when emphasis is placed on time, with an ageing in oak barrels or on lees which can see through this investment in the wine’s best future self.
We must not forget that prior to this, Arzuaga Albillo 2008 had scored 99 points in the 2021 Peñín Guide, from a tasting a while back. But Territorio Luthier White de Guarda 2020 is the first to make it to the 5 Star Category (≥95) with its technique already approved within the DO, which means that this happened once the foundations of a white wine winemaking process had been laid down, making it the first white of the new era of Riberas to achieve such high levels of quality.
This wine comes from grapes that have been hand-picked from 90-year-old plots planted on sandy loam soils, located in Aranda de Duero and Zazuar (Burgos). The wine is fermented in earthenware jars and oak barrels with local yeast, then aged in Hungarian oak for 20 months, following by in-bottle fine-tuning. According to its creators, it will drink well at around 30 years old, so it would be interesting to keep a bottle in our bodega, if we are lucky enough to get out hands on one of these 4,490 numbered bottles that are now on sale at RRP €50.
PODIUM PODIUM TRADITIONAL, SWEET AND SPECIAL WINES
DRY WHITE WINES
DO. RIBERA DEL DUERO
CONSEJO REGULADOR
Hospital, 6
09300 Roa (Burgos) : +34 947 541 221
@: info@riberadelduero.es www.riberadelduero.es
LOCATION:
Between the provinces of Burgos, Valladolid, Segovia and Soria. This region comprises 19 municipal districts in the east of Valladolid, 5 in the north west of Segovia, 59 in the south of Burgos (most of the vineyards are concentrated in this province with 10,000 Ha) and 6 in the west of Soria.en la parte occidental de Soria.
GRAPE VARIETIES:
WHITE: Albillo.
RED: Tinta del País (Tempranillo), Garnacha Tinta, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Merlot.
FIGURES FROM THE CRDO:
Vineyard surface: 27,252– Wine-Growers: 7,419– Wineries: 317 – 2023 Harvest rating: Very Good – Production 23: 85,226,871 litres. Market percentages: 81% National - 19% International.
SOIL:
In general, the soils are loose, not very fertile and with a rather high limestone content. Most of the sediment is composed of layers of sandy limestone or clay. The vineyards are located on the interfluvial hills and in the valleys at an altitude of between 700 and 850 m.
CLIMATE:
Continental in nature, with slight Atlantic influences. The winters are rather cold and the summers hot, although mention must be made of the significant difference in day-night temperatures contributing to the slow ripening of the grapes, enabling excellent acidity indexes to be achieved. The greatest risk factor in the region is the spring frosts, which are on many occasions responsible for sharp drops in production. The average annual rainfall is between 450 mm and 500 mm.
CLASSIFICATION OF YOUNG WINE HARVESTS GUIDE
Viña Mayor 2021 T C
89
Pleasant, kind finish, toasty, jammy, creamy.
Viña Mayor 2022 T RB
89
Kind finish, jammy, juicy.
BODEGAS VIRTUS
Pago de Fuentecilla s/n 47313 Aldeayuso (Valladolid) 7: +34 983 878 080 contact@virtuswine.com www.virtuswine.com
El Sueco 2020 T C tempranillo
92
Colour: deep cherry. Nose: ripe fruit, dried herbs, creamy oak, black fruit, spicy. Palate: powerful, ripe fruit, spicy, round tannins, good finish.
El Sueco
Albillo Mayor 2022 B C albillo mayor
91
Colour: bright straw. Nose: ripe fruit, floral, fine lees, mineral, toasty. Palate: complex, spicy, long, elegant.
Virtus 2017 T GR tempranillo
92
Colour: cherry, garnet rim. Nose: fruit preserve, powerful, dark chocolate, sweet spices. Palate: flavourful, long, ripe fruit.
BODEGAS VIYUELA
Ctra. de Quintanamanvirgo, s/n 09314 Boada de Roa (Burgos) 7: +34 619 848 017 viyuela@bodegasviyuela.com www.bodegasviyuela.com
Viyuela 2016 T GR
100% tempranillo
92
Colour: cherry, garnet rim. Nose: balsamic herbs, scrubland, old leather, black fruit. Palate: flavourful, balsamic, spicy, soft tannins.
Viyuela 2019 T R
100% tempranillo
88
Hot, pruney, toasty.
Viyuela 2022 T RB
100% tempranillo
89
Full-bodied, balanced, spicy, jammy, full-bodied, tasty.