Wine Advocate (96)

The 2014 Pedro Ximenez de Anada is dark amber and sweet, with notes of honeyed figs, maple syrup, toffee and almond liqueur. It is rich and unctuous, very full-bodied and a serious decadent elixir. It should last for 20-30 years, or more.

Wine Advocate (98)

The NV Pedro Ximenez Solera 1927 is non-vintage, but does have some 1927 material in it. This is totally dark brown/amber with notes of figs, toffee, caramel syrup, molasses and coffee. It is dense, super sweet, intense, rich and an amazingly, unctuously textured, thick beverage to consume slowly and introspectively after a meal. Drink now through 2050, or even longer.

Tim Atkin MW (96)

Malvasía Riojana, or Rojal, is a very rare grape that’s only found in old co-planted field blends as a rule. But here it takes centre stage in a brilliant wine that’s fermented and aged on its lees in concrete eggs. Saline, focused and refined, with jasmine and wet stone aromas, a creamy mid palate and a long, focused, pithy finish. A stunning debut. 2021 – 2026.

Wine Advocate (100)

It's an historical wine, a one-off, semi-sweet white produced at the end of the Spanish Civil War, a wine impossible to replicate, fruit of impossible circumstances, a wine I've had the luck to drink and share with many people on a number of occasions and which never fails to impress everyone. The perfect 1939 CVNE Rioja Blanco Semi Dulce Corona is a mythical wine! 1939 saw the end of Spain's Civil War, and the country was upside down. There were some major battles fought in Rioja, and by the time they had to harvest the grapes, there were not enough men in the village. They must have focused on the best parcels, surely giving priority to red grapes. Some vineyards were overlooked, as happened with the whites that eventually produced this wine. These grapes were harvested extremely late, into November, close to December and their health was not optimal, they had developed some botrytis and were clearly rotten. The people in charge of making the wine surely didn't know about botrytis cynerea, or noble rot, and were surely afraid their grapes were rotten and they would not be able to produce any decent white. So they did the best they could, but the fermentation never finished completely and there was some residual sugar in the wine. So, as they did with all their wines, they put it in oak barrels to mature and kind of put it in a corner hoping nobody would notice its shortcomings. We have to realize that CVNE was already producing quite a lot of wine at the time, so it's not unusual to have a few stray barrels here or there that nobody pays attention to. What is not that normal is that the wine was REALLY forgotten and was "found" during a stock take for an audit in 1970! So the wine aged slowly in barrel for some 30 years! Once found, nobody saw any reason to keep the wine in barrel any longer, so they decided to bottle it. Not knowing quite what to do with it, the bottles were stacked somewhere and the same story was repeated, as the stash was forgotten and basically untouched until thirty something years later: thanks to the daughter of one of the family owners (the winery is still in the hand of the same family that created it back in 1879). The proud father had a vague idea about a somewhat sweet wine that could be served at his daughter's wedding and asked to get some bottles to taste. They uncorked it, tasted it and found a complex, subtle white with great balance between alcohol, acidity and a little bit of residual sugar (around 20 grams), which took the edge off the acidity and made the wine rounder, as old Viura can be too austere. The slow aging, first in an oxidative way during the years in oak provided some nuttiness, and spicy aromas, while the botrytis added some of those dry apricot, beeswax and pollen notes, hinting on honey, but also the long reductive period in bottle made it very elegant and polished, with infinite nuances of white pepper, quince, faint smoke, walnuts, petrol...This redefines complexity, elegance and slow aging. The palate is prodigious, with a gobsmacking (literally!) balance, pungent flavors, freshness, acidity, very faint sweetness and length like only something which has slowly evolved over 70 years can be. The aftertaste should not be measured in seconds, but in minutes, and the empty glass keeps changing and giving different tones for hours. If you leave a little bit in the bottle for the day after (yes, it's difficult, I know!) the wine is even better on the second day. There is no reason to believe that if the wine is as good as it is today it is not going to reach its one-hundredth birthday. The wine is mainly Viura, but there might have been a little bit of the white Garnacha Blanca in the blend. At this stage nobody really knows (or cares). This is simply otherworldly, superb, perfect wine, whose only improvement would come if they had bottled some magnums! A dream. A unique, historical wine. If there is a perfect white Rioja, this is surely it. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2039.

Wine Advocate (96)

The second vintage produced, the 2014 Blanco unfortunately is still not allowed to carry the Ribera del Duero appellation even though it's produced with the traditional white Albillo grape grown in old vineyards in the zone. The 2014 Blanco is nothing short of spectacular. It's produced with the grapes from individual ancient vines planted in old, organically farmed vineyards on clay and limestone soils at some 800 meters in altitude. It has moderate alcohol (13%) and a very low pH (3.08), which translates into great freshness and a sharp and serious palate obtained by fermenting the juice from foot-trodden full clusters with indigenous yeasts in concrete and oak vats for about one year, during which time the wine was kept with the lees that were not stirred or racked. It was hand bottled without fining or filtering in March 2017. It has the flinty, sesame seed-like reduction I find in some fine white Burgundies. It has a fresh and balanced palate and is terribly mineral. It's even better than the initial 2012, and especially the oak feels better integrated. My guess is this white is going to age nicely and for a long time in bottle. This has to be among the finest unfortified whites from Spain. Bravo! 1,380 bottles and 41 magnums produced.

Wine Advocate (97)

The white from Dominio del Águila is one of the first whites from the Ribera del Duero appellation, which just approved the category in September 2019. It's also one of the finest whites from the region (and from Spain), used by the appellation to present the new category of wines as an example of the aging potential of the style, which at this address was produced in 2012, 2014 and 2015 and until now sold as generic Vino de España. The fourth vintage bottled is this 2016 Blanco, which is insultingly young and backward, with incredible tension, 13% alcohol and a pH of 3.08, which is only achieved in cool vintages, and crafted as the best white Burgundies, as it's produced with the idea of a true vin de garde. This 2016 took almost two years to complete fermentation, because it ferments in oak barrels in a very cold cellar. This is the finest vintage, with citrus notes, hints of smoke and incredible tension and freshness in the palate. This has the tenderness of a baby and should have a slower development than any of the previous vintages. It was hand bottled—unfined and unfiltered after 32 months in barrel—into 4,855 bottles and 80 magnums in June 2019. These are wines that deserve being revisited a few years after their bottling...

Tim Atkin MW (97)

Jorge Monzón and Isabel Rodero's Albillo Mayor is one of Spain's greatest whites. Think of it as a cross between a Jura Vin Jaune and a Viña Tondonia Blanco from Rioja in style. Nutty, salty yet produced without a veil of flor yeast, it's a subtly wooded delight, showing old vine concentration and the leesy, waxy, oxidative complexity that comes from a two-year fermentation without added sulphur.

Tim Atkin MW (98)

One of Spain's greatest white wines, produced outside the Ribera del Duero Denominación de Origen for the time being, this is a field blend of Albillo Mayor with 5% of other varieties. Salty, stony and appealingly reductive, with some lovely struck match top notes, it has the concentration of its 100-year-old vines, bread, almond and citrus peel flavours and a chiselled finish. World class.

Tim Atkin MW (96)

Named after the range of hills in the cool, north-west corner of Rioja, Gómez Cruzado's top white is a cuvée of Viura and 25% Tempranillo Blanco, Calagraño and Malvasía. Aged in concrete eggs and barrels, it's a leesy, sappy, complex blend with notes of beeswax, vanilla and lemongrass and a salty tang. Wonderfully complex.

Vinous (94)

(aged for nine-and-a-half years in American oak barrels and then held in bottle for at least nine years before release) Limpid, brass-tinged yellow-gold. Highly pungent, heady aromas of orange pith, dried peach, iodine, jasmine, honey and toasted brioche pick up a smoky mineral nuance as the wine opens up. Deeply concentrated and expansive in the mouth, offering palate-coating marmalade, pit fruit and sweet butter flavors that show a refreshingly bitter edge and an echo of minerality. Sappy and surprisingly vibrant for its heft, delivering powerful mineral thrust and persistent floral and smoky mineral notes that cling to the strikingly long finish.

Wine Advocate (96)

Released even later than the red, the 1994 Viña Tondonia Blanco Gran Reserva, the most classical of all whites in existence in Spain, is a blend of 90% Viura and 10% Malvasía Riojana fermented in old (ancient!) oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in well-seasoned American oak barrels for ten years (yes, you read it correctly, ten years in barrique). It was bottled unfiltered in March 2005. This is by far the most complex white, with notes of curry and meat broth (think umami), that are complex, subtle and aromatic, plus show developing notes of mushrooms, autumn forest, aromatic herbs and hints of petrol and perhaps–and this might not be politically correct–traces of asparagus and mustard! The palate reveals a very compact wine, very intense, round but focused, with high-pitched flavors, great acidity and length. The wine is a chameleon, keeps changing in the glass, while the notes of green nuts, curry and morels made me think of a wine from the Jura. After drinking bottles from the 1940s, 50s and 60s, I can promise you this wine will outlive most of us, as the whites age even longer than the reds. 8,800 bottles exist.

Vinous (94)

Shimmering yellow-gold. Expansive aromas of lemon marmalade, peach nectar, chamomile, toasted nuts and honey, plus a hint of spicy ginger in the background. Broad and fleshy in the mouth, offering intense citrus and pit fruit, buttered toast and honey flavors and a subtle mineral undertone. Finishes very long and smooth, with building florality and repeating toast and pit fruit notes.

Wine Advocate (93)

The 2011 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva reflects a warm and ripe year, and the wine is more evolved and already hints at some caramel and honey. It has a mellow palate without the vibrancy of the 2010 I tasted next to it. This wine matured in used, ancient American oak barrels for six years. 19,000 bottles were filled in November 2019.

Decanter (98)

A new-wave Sherry by winemakers Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Perez makes its debut on the Place de Bordeaux this September. 100% Palomino Fino grapes come from the 3.35-hectare San Cayetano vineyard in Macharnudo, planted in 1988. Beautifully fragranced nose, really perfumed and floral, scented with wildflowers. The wine sees one year of flor ageing but it's distinctly dry and round on the palate. There's a thickness to the texture, like thick honey but with salted, softly spiced edges and a core of bright lemon, peach and pear that gives tang, energy and excitement to the expression. Poised and refined, this has a lovely ease about it, beautifully textured and fully flavoured with mouthwatering acidity and bursts of bright citrus zest that counter the saltiness - close your eyes and you could be by the beach! Interesting and captivating, long and lingering, crying out to be eaten with nuts. lovely sea salt spray, close your eyes and you're at the beach! limestone. Small production of only 6,000 bottles.

Wine Advocate (100)

I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life. I did a vertical tasting of many of the old, historic vintages of this wine, and they are included in a separate article in this very same issue. This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea. This is mostly Viura with perhaps a pinch of Malvasía Riojana (aka Alarije). The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. The potential next release could be the 1998 in no less than ten years' time.

Wine Advocate (100)

I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life. I did a vertical tasting of many of the old, historic vintages of this wine, and they are included in a separate article in this very same issue. This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea. This is mostly Viura with perhaps a pinch of Malvasía Riojana (aka Alarije). The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. The potential next release could be the 1998 in no less than ten years' time.