Wine Ratings

wines

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.Robert Parker | 98 RPOne of the world's best PX wines is Solera 1927, the pride of Alvear. Whatever solera stocks went into this bottling were well selected. Aromas of maple and fine wood turn to fig and caramel. Saturation and weight on the palate are expected, but this has some (though not a lot) acidic cut. Deep flavors of fig and Nutella finish with nuttiness and warmth. Drink or hold.Wine Enthusiast | 96 WEThe NV Alvear Solera 1927 always seems to deliver, and releases have been incredibly consistent over the past decade or more. As always, the wine was pulled from a very old, fortified Solera blend that includes grapes going back to 1927. Full-bodied, opulent, and sexy, it’s has slightly more acidity than the 2015 release as well as huge notes of figs, plums, coffee, smoked earth, and caramel. It’s a big, rich, powerful wine that needs to be consumed at the end of a meal.Jeb Dunnuck | 95 JDA pretty mind-blowing sweet wine with so much density and sweetness, offering syrup, toffee, burnt-sugar and chocolate flavors, as well as espresso coffee and toffee pudding. It’s full and very, very sweet. Caramel at the end. From a solera established in 1927. Drink now.James Suckling | 94 JSThis rich sweetie hangs languidly, with date, rum raisin, almond cream and Turkish coffee notes lolling through, backed by toffee and toasted peanut details. Dessert on its own. Drink now. 500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 90 WS

It’s always an exciting moment tasting a new vintage of the wine from one of the most beautiful vineyards in Montsant, and the 2019 Espectacle del Montsant didn’t disappoint. It’s always Mediterranean, heady and ripe, decadent and hedonistic. 2019 was a warm and quite classical vintage in the zone, with good ripeness (the wine’s label lists 15.5% alcohol), and the wine is hedonistic, nuanced and complex, with very good acidity, which is one of the characteristics that makes this vintage so complete. Despite everything, the wine is medium to full-bodied and comes through as perfumed and ethereal. They do long macerations and long aging in foudre. 2019 is a very serious vintage for this wine; it’s a little closed and needs time in the glass, and it’s tight and seamless, a little austere for what this wine usually is. This is truly spectacular. 6,500 bottles produced.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 99 RP

Torre Muga is the top wine among the current releases from this Haro-based bodega, right up there with the best bottlings of this avowedly modern blend of Tempranillo with 10% each of Mazuelo and Graciano. A Rioja with a French accent, as it were, it has coffee bean oak, violet and green herb aromas, granular tannins, blackberry and bramble fruit and the structure to age in bottle. 2026-42. Tim Atkin | 98 TALastly, the 2020 Torre Muga just about jumps out of the glass with its complex red and black fruits, savory flowers, tobacco, lead pencil shavings, and graphite-like aromatics. Plush, full-bodied, concentrated, and beautifully balanced, it shows the softer, more rounded style of the vintage and has ripe tannins and a great finish.Jeb Dunnuck | 97 JDTorre is a bolder, more concentrated expression of Rioja from Muga. Meaty and tarry nose with smoked bacon. Lots of grilled herbs and some dark sweet spices. Powerful, broad and full-bodied on the palate with lots of vertical, dusty tannins that lead you towards the long, juicy finish. Tempranillo, mazuelo and graciano. Better from 2025.James Suckling | 96 JSThe more modern wine in the portfolio is the 2020 Torre Muga, which has notes of toast, smoke, sesame seeds, smoky bacon, spices, herbs and ripe berries. It is a wine they started producing in 1991, and the change in style also influenced the quality approach and selection of vineyards, grapes and oak for the barrels that they later applied to other wines. It has a polished palate with very fine tannins, chalky and elegant. It’s a more approachable vintage, round, velvety and soft, though perhaps without the aging potential of 2021, but it’s very pleasant. It’s long. They didn’t bottle the 2020 from Aro, so some of those grapes might have finished in this bottle. It was bottled in December 2022.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95 RPThe garnet-hued 2020 Torre Muga is a blend of Tempranillo, Mazuelo and Graciano sourced from Rioja Alta, aged for 18 months in new French oak barrels. Its ripe aromas reveal balsamic and clove notes, featuring a delicate core of plums with hints of cedar and vanilla. On the palate, it is dry and plush, with a lingering juicy sensation and a fairly chalky texture. This is a complex Rioja wine that nods to a riper Bordeaux style.Vinous Media | 94 VMA bold but poised red, with fine, chalky tannins. Lively acidity lends definition and tension to the panoply of flavors, which partners savory game, espresso, cured tobacco and iron notes with ripe boysenberry, crème de cassis, cocoa powder and licorice accents. This should age nicely, but why wait? Tempranillo, Mazuelo and Graciano. Drink now through 2034. 3,000 cases made, 600 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 93 WS

Aromas of lemons, pie crust and a salty, minerally edge. Austere yet voluminous, incisive and saline, it shows a medium- to full-bodied structure, with an attractive interplay of freshness and nervy texture that drives the finish. This comes from a vineyard planted on decomposed gneiss soil in Sanxenxo. This wine should evolve beautifully with time in the bottle. Already drinkable. Drink now or hold.James Suckling | 98 JSThe nose of the 2022 Leirana O Pradiño is very expressive and complex, different, with notes of quince, smoke and citrus, and the palate is marked by the soils, beautifully textured, tasty and long, with great balance, a little more volume and a harmonious finish. It comes from a single vineyard in the village of Sanxenxo. The wine matured for 12 months in a 600-liter barrel. 750 bottles were produced. It was bottled in August 2023.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 95+ RPThe 2022 Albariño Leirana O Pradiño, from Salnés, Rías Baixas, is planted on gneiss soils with ample sun exposure. Golden in color, it reveals resin and ripe stone fruit aromas. Compact on the palate, it shows intense freshness, a creamy mid-palate and a lingering saline finish. Refined and distinctive.Vinous Media | 93 VM

Last year, Álvaro Palacios defined the 2023 Moncerbal as juicy and crystalline, an energetic red from 2.1 hectares in this paraje from Corullón where the soils are shallow and the vines are on steep slopes at 610 to 730 meters above sea level. It’s 92% Mencía and 8% Jerez that fermented with some full clusters and indigenous yeasts in oak vats with manual punching down of the cap. Like most of the 2023s, it had an élevage of around 10 months and has contained alcohol, 13%, and in this case a slightly lower pH, 3.6. It’s paler and also the most aromatic, floral, ethereal and insinuating. This is a vineyard that excels in less warm vintages, but it’s also a vineyard that has suffered a lot from the drought in the last few years and needs some time to recover. Still, this has the textbook herbal side, with finesse and precision. It’s perfumed, floral and showy, with notes of tangerine peel and also fennel and aniseed, pungent, mysterious and intoxicating... There is a transparency, symmetry and elegance. This is super approachable already. 6,446 bottles produced. It was bottled in March 2025.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98 RPTasted en primeur and, as with Villa de Corullón, this Moncerbal was a little reduced on the nose. In contrast, the palate was remarkable: alight with vivid acidity, bright cherry and pomelo fruits, wrapped with notes of creamy chocolate and structured by very fine tannin. Enjoy it soon, but will also benefit from ageing.Decanter Magazine | 96 DECThe 2023 Moncerbal is a Mencía from Corullón in Bierzo. It opens with pomegranate and blueberry notes, evolving toward wild herbs, a touch of sun-warmed cherry and a hint of laurel. The palate shows a delicate talc-like texture and a gentle tightness that gains energy from the interplay of alcohol and freshness. Moderate yet expressive, it presents a compact character within the Bierzo context.Vinous Media | 93-95 VM