2018 La Montesa Rioja Crianza, Bodegas Palacios Remondo, Rioja, Spain

Garnacha/Tempranillo/Mazuelo. Organically farmed, Certified from 2017.

Previously voted in the top 100 most exciting wines by The Wine Spectator. 

"The quality/price champion 2018 La Montesa is now 100% Garnacha from organically farmed vineyards from the 100-hectare family property that gives the wine its name. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats and matured in barriques, 85% of them produced with French oak and the rest with American oak. It feels very young, and the oak is still present; and the American oak, which is spicy and smoky, with ashy incense and vanilla with some sweet undertones, gives it a character that brings back the character of the traditional wines from yesteryear in a very clean way. It has vibrant freshness and should develop nicely with a couple of years in bottle. It has great purity and typicity, less Mediterranean than the 2017, nicely textured, velvety."  Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate.