2019 Quiñón de Valmira, Álvaro Palacios, Rioja, Spain

Plenty of sweet berries, such as strawberries and plums with some citrus. Full-bodied with round tannins and a fresh finish. Layered and intense, but there’s lovely purity of fruit and a delicious, juicy finish. So attractive now, but better in two or three years.james_suckling, jamessuckling_com (Oct 2021)

The single-vineyard 2019 Quiñón de Valmira is made with Garnacha (and 10% other traditional varieties) grown at 616 meters in altitude, fermented with some full clusters with indigenous yeasts in oak vats and matured in oak foudres and bocoyes for 16 months. This is 'only' 13.5% alcohol (lowish for Garnacha), so I asked Palacios how this wine can be so low in alcohol in such a warm and dry year. He explained to me that the red soils are only 20 centimeters deep, and below that, it's all white. Those calcium carbonate soils are cold soils, and the wines are also pale and low in alcohol but with fully developed flavors and aromas. The wines come through as lively, vibrant and deep, with pungent flavors, incredible finesse, with the red fruit from Garnacha intermixed with limestone that gives it the incredible elegance and tastiness, with an almost salty finish. This has more fruit than flowers, different from the 2018 but at the same quality level. It was bottled in April 2021, and 3,914 bottles, 110 magnums and 22 double magnums were produced.Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Jul 2021)