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88 The G Series focuses on Garnacha. The 2007 Afinus G2 is sourced from 60 year old vines in Montsant. Purple-colored, it offers an expressive perfume of cherry and raspberry leading to a wine with ripe fruit, savory flavors, and a spicy finish. Drink it over the next 2-3 years.

90 The 2006 G5 from the D.O. of Madrid is purple-colored with a slightly roasted character featuring black cherry and black raspberry aromas and flavors. Plush and layered with a bit of underlying structure, this tasty Garnacha has 2-3 years of aging potential but will be hard to resist early on. This is an excellent value to drink over the next three years.

90 The 2007 Puerta Bonita G5 is sourced from 120 year old vines in the new Madrid D.O. Opaque purple with a slightly brooding nose, with coaxing black cherry and raspberry aromas emerge. This is followed by a structured wine with 2-3 years of aging potential. The flavors have depth and concentration marked by spicy, savory red fruits. While this excellent effort will evolve in the cellar, few purchasers will be able to delay their gratification for more than a matter of hours.

90 The 2007 Puntazo is sourced from 75 year old vines in Navarra. Purple-colored, its aromatics of black cherry and raspberry leap from the glass. On the palate, the wine has excellent breadth and concentration, light tannin, and a lengthy, pure finish. Drink it over the next 3-4 years.

89 The 2007 M2 is sourced from the warm climate D.O. of Alicante. Dark ruby-colored, it offers an expressive perfume of damp earth, mulberry, blackberry, and mineral. Intense, balanced, and long, it will provide pleasure over the next 2-3 years

91 The 2007 M5 is sourced from Yecla. Dark ruby-colored, the nose contains enticing, slightly roasted notes of mineral, pencil lead, and an amalgam of black fruits. On the palate, this meaty effort has excellent density, layered flavors, and a remarkably long finish for a wine of its humble price.

The reader is referred to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate Issue 175, pp72-73, for a more in depth explanation behind the Vinos Sin-Ley concept. In a nutshell, its purpose is to focus on individual

grape varietiesand their expressions in a range of terroirs. To help accomplish this goal,the wines are all unoaked so that the purity of the fruit is front and center.The M Series focuses on Monastrell

(known as Mourvedre in France).

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91 The final wine is from Rioja-Baja. The 2007 GRA2 is 100% Graciano, normally a blending grape occasionally making an appearance in wines from Rioja. Purple-colored, it offers a room-filling nose of spice box, earth notes, black raspberry, and black cherry. This leads to a dense, structured wine with layers of ripe, savory fruit, a lengthy finish, and 2-3 years of aging potential. While this superb effort can be enjoyed now, it will unquestionably be better with several additional years of bottle age. Drink it from 2011 to 2018.

91 The 2006 Licinia is composed of 40% Syrah, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 30% Tempranillo aged for 12 months in French oak. Inky purple-hued, it offers up an enticing bouquet of mineral, pencil lead, tar, scorched earth, black currant, and blackberry. Layered, ripe, and spicy, it has several years of aging potential and should provide pleasure through 2020.

91 The 2006 Etim Seleccion is a blend of 60% Garnacha, 30% Carinena, and 10% Syrah aged for 6 months in seasoned French and American oak. Opaque purple-colored, it exhibits a brooding bouquet of minerals, black cherry, and blueberry. Layered on the palate with hints of dried herbs and an amalgam of blue and black fruits, the wine has excellent grip and depth followed by a lengthy finish. If you want to experience Priorat without paying the price, this is the way to go.

94 The 2005 Etim L’Esparver is a blend of 45% Garnacha, 45% Carinena, and the balance Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon. The wine went through malolactic fermentation in 500-liter French oak after which it spent 20 months in barrique. Opaque purple-colored, the wine offers up a sexy nose of herbs, sage, crushed stone, black cherry, and blackberry liqueur which comes blasting from the glass. Layered, opulent, firm, and muscular, this large-scaled, lengthy wine should be cellared for 8-10 years. It should be at its best from 2015 to 2035.

92 The 2006 J.C. Vizcarra was aged for 9 months in French and American oak. It delivers enthralling notes of cedar, bacon, wood smoke, mineral, and blueberry and blackberry. It has more structure as well as greater depth and concentration. Give this hedonistic effort 2-3 years in the cellar and drink it through 2020.

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91 The 2004 Juan Rojo was aged for 8 months in French and American oak. Opaque purple-colored, the nose exhibits lots of spice, mineral, scorched earth, and blackberry. This leads to a full-bodied, structured wine with layers of fruit, intense flavors, and 4-6 years of aging potential. This well-made Toro will be at its best from 2014-2029. Bodegas Matarredonda, with 60 acres of Tempranillo vines, was founded in 2000 by Alfonso Sanz Rojo. The Libranza bottling is made from pre-phylloxera 100- to 140-year-old vines while the Juan Rojo uses Tempranillo from 80+-year-old vines.

94 The 2004 Libranza spent 14 months in French and American oak. Inky purple-hued, it has a complex bouquet of smoke, cedar, tar, pencil lead, espresso, and blackberry. This is followed by a plush, full-bodied, intense wine in which spice notes and licorice emerge. It conceals enough tannin to evolve for 5-7 years and should drink well through 2035.

91+ Bellum’s 2005 and 2006 El Providencia bottlings are notable values listed on the Best Buy chart at the end of this report. The 2006 Bellum El Principio is 100% Monastrell sourced from 65- to 85-year-old vines. Deep crimson-colored, it offers an uplifted perfume of spice box, mineral, and blueberry. On the palate the wine reveals a forward personality with excellent flavors, velvety tannins, and 2-3 years of aging potential. It will provide pleasure through 2015.

93+ The 2006 Horizonte de Exopto is 80% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha, and 10% Graciano aged for 10 months in new, mostly French oak. Inky purple-colored, the aromatics are a bit muted and the wine is tightly wound but loaded. Notes of cedar, smoke, licorice, and blackberry are followed by a dense, powerful wine with excellent flavors and substantial ripe tannin. Give it another 6-8 years of cellaring and then drink it through 2030. Exopto Cellars’ top wine is called Exopto. The 2006 was reduced, brooding and difficult to assess. The individual components seem to be present but judgment is temporarily reserved.

92 The 2006 Mibal is 100% Tempranillo aged for 12 months in French oak. It is opaque purple with a super-expressive nose of mineral, spice box, cedar, leather, blackberry, and licorice. Dense and layered, it has gobs of sweet fruit, incipient complexity, several years of aging potential, and a lengthy finish. Drink this superb effort from 2011 to 2022.