This is the entry level ‘traditional’ wine from Faustino, 95% Tempranillo with 5% Mazuelo that makes a home in American oak for 10 months.

Sour cherry and strawberries on the nose, a touch of coconut and wild herbs. Gutsy and fresh in the mouth with some subtle tannins and good acid from front to back. More of the same on the palate, it’s well structured and firm, but easy to drink and enjoyable. I’m surprised at how good this is, highly enjoyable, plenty of savour fruit and a long finish. It would do well in the cellar for a couple of years too. 88+ Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $20 Closure: Cork

Web: www.bodegasfaustino.es

The book is The Spanish Cockpit by Franz Borkenau. Its a first person account of the Spanish civil. It’s more of a diary of his travels around Spain in ‘36 and ‘37 with the Government forces (the revolutionaries and ultimate loosers in the war) . An interesting read, but heavy going if you’re not familiar with the topic.

Deep and dark in glass with a powerful nose of coffee beans, coco, lashings of blackberry and dark cherry with nutmeg, sage and earth. This is a very serious wine, concentrated and powerful, rich and youthful. The palate shows a similar profile, but adds some hot tarmac and a few leafy herbs. A very long finish with a touch of minerals. It shut down about 3 hours in, this is one for the cellar.  92+ Pts.

Source: Retail Price: $104 Closure: Conventional Cork

A very classic Monastrell nose of earthy, animally plum and cherry, with a touch of honey and spice. In the mouth there is a rustic feel to it, the tannins and well defined and soft with a longish finish. Well balanced and fresh, with plenty of fruit, the palate shows more plum and cherry, herby undergrowth and black pepper, ink and gamey highlights. Maybe it was the food, but this looks more complete than the 2005. Still a hands down bargain. 89 Pts.

Oh and don’t do the usual rose thing and chill the crap out of it, this bottle shows much better if you take it out of the fridge half and hour before drinking.

A bit of the ol’ toffee apple on the nose with strawberry and light cherry. It’s a bit smoky and rocky too. Traditional rose style in the mouth (as opposed to the more white wine like roses), well balanced. Robust flavours of apple and cherry, a few strawberries and a touch of lemon and bitter herbs on the generous finish. 87 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $20 Closure: Cork

Web: www.bodegasfaustino.es

Bright red cherry and plum on the nose, with some cinnamon and spice, just a touch of herby undergrowth. Open for business in the mouth, some up market tannins and a excellent balance. More cherry on the palate with a touch of strawberry and mulberry, some cola and pepper. It’s medium bodied, not too demanding on the palate and balanced. Everything you want in a Rioja crianza. Well priced too. 90 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $27 Closure: Cork

Web: www.bodegasfaustino.es

Spicy and toasty lees character is the first thing I get here, then some lemon and pear, a shake of white pepper. It’s sweet smelling and summery. Like me, it’s a little flabby and sweet in the middle, but overall it’s savoury with more lees characters, pear and tangy baking apples, a bit of talc. Fun and funky, it’s a bit quirky and I like that. A BBQ crowd pleaser. 87 Pts.

Source: Heart and Soil Price: $15 Closure: Screwcap

I’d not had the white or rosado from these guys before and I was very happy to find some honest and typical Riojan examples of young white and rose wine. This is unwooded Viura from 25 year old vines, fermentation is in stainless tanks.

A big woft of lemons on the first sniff, it mellows out with a bit pear and nettle with some freshly mown grass. Textural with more pear and cactus juice, nice linear acid and a long finish. Good with food or something a bit different out on the patio. 87 Pts.

Source: Broadway Liquor Distributors Price: $20 Closure: Cork

Web: www.bodegasfaustino.es

A deep and complex nose of black cherry and raspberry, with some subtle chocolate, nutmeg, cinnamon and hot rocks. Structured, but very much open for business on the palate with excellent balance and minerally acid. On the palate the step up in complexity shows up again, with layered notes of raspberry, dark cherry, mulberry, a little sage leaf, white pepper and a shake of anise. It’s smooth and lithe, but with a deep and intense core of high quality fruit. Impressive stuff. 93 Pts.

Source: Heart and Soil Price: $70 Closure: Conventional Cork

There are two wines in the range, this being the ‘entry level’. Both of the wines are from old vines, the Samso (Carinena) and Granacha vines for this wine are 35 to 65 years old . It’s aged in 1 and 2 year old oak. You can tell that these wines are made with a fair bit of attention to detail, nothing sticks out, the balance is unbelievable, overall it’s complex very enjoyable. If Roda made a wine in Monsant, this is what it would be like.

The colour is quite dark red, but don’t let that fool you. The nose is subtle and complex with raspberry leaf, red currants and raspberry, a few toasty notes with a bit of white pepper. Fine and smooth in the mouth, its round with a few edges to provide contrast. It’s calm and confidant, but with an impish side. Juicy raspberry and and cola with some hot cinnamon, mulberry and the odd musk stick here or there. Fine chalky tannins turn up on the long finish. This is joyous stuff. 91 Pts.

Source: Heart and Soil Price: $40 Closure: Conventional Cork

Estio made from 70% Monastrell with a bit Tempranillo and Syrah.

Bright red/pink in colour, it’s quite a striking colour. The nose is up front and straight forward: strawberry and a touch of soft plum, a bit of wild herbs. It’s quite juicy and fresh with some crunchy acid. Plenty to like on the palate, strawberry and raspberry fruit with some minerals and earthy herbs. Great drinking at this price. 87 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $19 Closure: Conventional Cork

Now this wine doesn’t show too much of that herbal/vegetative character I mentioned in the last review. I drink a fair bit of verdejo when I’m in northern Spain, most bars have a good one on stand by when you’ve had an overload of vino tinto over the past week. It’s been a couple of years since I’ve been, I’m dying to get back but I keep buying wine when I should be saving for a plane ticket…

This opens up nice and fresh, with some pear and fennel buld, a bit of apple and lemon with a touch of cut grass. There is a touch of sweetness at first, but it’s mostly savoury with a little texture. It motors along nicely, nothing poking out, with good balance between texture and acid. The plate has generous flavours of pear and apple, lemon towards the finish and a touch of minerally goodness. A good drink, I’d buy a glass if I walked into a bar and saw it on the list. 88 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $23 Closure: Conventional Cork

It’s a blend of Touriga Nacional, Alfrocheiro, Jaen (Mencia) and Tinta Roriz that sees 6 months in old wood before being bottled.

The nose starts off with a gamey meat smell, followed up with some plums and black cherries, subtle spice and an old campfire note. The palate has the goods however, smooth and focused with some sandy tannins on the finish. It’s very complex and I feel like my palate is pulled from one side to the other at times. It’s very dry and a bit wild, more notes of plum and dark fruits with strong wild sage character, a touch of chocolate and liqorice. It’s not something I’d want to drink a lot of on it’s own, but with a spicy sausage pasta it was a treat. 87+ Pts

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Price: $33 Closure: Conventional Cork

This is the first wine from this label, which means the siblings in spanish. The packaging is outstanding, the wine shows real promise too. The fruit is from the King Valley.

Peach, jasmine a little lime and even a some rocky minerals. Tight with a backbone of driving acid underneath some good fruit. Apple and and just ripe white peach, lemony acid with a lime sherbet thing on finish, which is quite long. A bit of talc at times too. This is a very good example of Aussie albariño, it had me ticking all of the varietal boxes on the way through. 89 Pts.

Source: Crittenden Estate Cost: $28 Closure:Screwcap

The nose opens up with a stong note of wild herbs, fennel bulb and green apple and pear. Slightly textured with a bite of acid and subtle fruit characters. That herby note is a bit more subduded here, some nice crunchy acid and it seems well balanced. The plate is a bit subdued in terms of flavour, a bit of pear and lemon but the acid drives it along nicely. Out of the two this drinks a notch below the Mocen, but still worth a look if you see it buy the glass somewhere. 87 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $23 Closure: Screwcap

Vina Ciento Cinco, to give it’s full name, is made from Tempranillo without wood as far as I can tell. As usual with Telmo’s wines, the label is quite eye catching.

The thing I like about this wine is it’s confident nature. Nothing sticks out and everything is in the right place. It’s straight forward, but with a bit of character. The nose shows plenty of earthy cherry and raspberry notes, with a touch of smoke. In the mouth it shows juicy raspberry and blackberry fruit, a sprinkle of liquorice root and earth. A moderately generous finish with plump tannins. Very good drinking. 88 Pts.

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Cost: $28 Closure: Conventional Cork