Arrocal, Ribera del Duero DO (Castilla y León, Spain) 2016

 This is an obviously great wine, showing impressive density but also intricate detail and marvelous integration immediately after the cork is pulled.  All of those attributes blossom even more as the wine opens with air, actually seeming to take on additional palate weight even as its tannins soften and the aromas and flavors broaden and blossom.  There’s considerable oak in the mix, but it never really shows as a distinct element, but rather as a source of spicy, toasty aromatic accents and flavor undercurrents.  The fruit is so abundant that the combination of grape and wood tannins never becomes notably astringent, though this certainly calls for enjoyment with food in the years immediately ahead.  I have no doubt that it will improve for a full 15 years from now, and then likely hold at that level for an additional span.  This is not mere guesswork on my part, but rather a reliable extrapolation from its rock-solid stability from an open bottle over three consecutive days.  At $115, this is obviously a luxury purchase, but the wine’s performance places it very near the apex of worldwide wine quality, at which point it offers more sheer beauty than almost anything sold for less than $150.