Ferratus, Ribera del Duero (Castilla y León, Spain) 2014

 Ferratus (or, more fully, Bodegas Cuevas Jimenez Ferratus) is a medium-sized producer of about 10,000 cases per year, well equipped and energetically run, with very good cellar management and a skillful, French-born winemaker.  All of the wines are very solid, and the “Origen” and “Fusión” bottlings are to be sought out (91 points for the former from 2017 for about $22; 93 for the latter from the same vintage for about $50 — these are excellent scores from a hot, dry year that posed challenges).  However, my favorite here by a wide margin regardless of price was this 2014 “Sensaciones,” made from 55 year-old bush vines planted at very high elevation.  The wine is aged for 17 months in tight-grained new French oak barrels, and then provided with a full four years to integrate and soften before being released into the market.  Rich and deeply flavored but soft and inviting, this is a wine that proves immediately convincing; it impresses effortlessly, in the manner of a gifted athlete.  Clearly made from exceptional fruit that was beautifully rendered, this is styled for success in the US market, and hopefully we’ll see more of this on our side of the Atlantic sometime soon.