Believe it or not, I’ve already tasted more than 2,400 wines in 2013, and we’re only seven weeks into the year. Of all those wines, this one is clearly the best affordable red. Rich and dense and very deeply flavored, it remains pure and natural-seeming, with delicious flavors of black cherries and red and black berries and lightly spicy, smoky accents. Importer Aurelio Cabestrero has assembled an amazing collection of Tempranillo-based wines from Ribera del Duero, and dollar for dollar, this is the best of the best.
Finca Torremilanos, Ribera del Duero (Castilla y León, Spain) 2011
By Michael Franz