Viña Jaraba, La Mancha DO (Spain) 2016

 Of all the wines in the current set of releases from this excellent, high-value producer, this one shows the character of its growing season most clearly.  Elegant and complex and refined like so many 2016 wines (not only from Spain, but also Italy and France among others), this shows terrific class and complexity for a $16 wine.  It is no richer than the 2017 Crianza from this house, so don’t buy it for “punch.”  However, it shows an extremely high ratio of aroma and flavor to its weight, which is precisely the characteristic that makes for magic in wines from, say, Barbaresco or Burgundy.  The key difference here is that this costs less than 1/3 of what you would pay for a wine of comparable quality from either of those regions.  Enough said.  When I first opened the five current releases from Jaraba, this was actually my favorite, though the Pago de la Jaraba surpassed it when fully aerated.  I note this only to let you know that this is ready to enjoy now, and wow, is it ever enjoyable.