Rioja - Red Wines

It's Rioja Jim, but not as we know it! Partial carbonic maceration to promote the bright primary fruitiness of the Tempranillo, raspberry and juicy cherry, sappy and bright, with a thirst quenching tang. There's some lov...(read more)

A lovely Crianza from Bodegas Ruconia. This is a firm favourite at L&S. Lots of lively cherry fruit wrapped up in attractive vanilla oak. Medium bodied, the wine holds a good high tone throughout. Another Rioja that...(read more)

We really love Sandra's high elevation Rioja and this is another cracker. At 400 Metres up you start to get wines with greater freshness and precision, fragrant and detailed, this has damson, blueberry and dark cherry fr...(read more)

This really is a superb vintage of this wine, so much to love in the more traditional Rioja style here, liquorice, coffee, meat juices, leather, redcurrants, herbs and cedar. But the palate then delivers everything in su...(read more)

Finer and more fragrant than the 2020 release, Pies Negros is a cuvée of Tempranillo and 15% Graciano from vineyards between 600 and 650 metres in Ábalos. Matured in older oak, it has subtle, stony reductio...(read more)

Finca de Los Locos is a single, 2.8 hectare parcel in Baños Ebro, planted in 1981 with bush vines of Tempranillo, 20% Graciano and 2% Viura. There is lots of limestone in this sandy vineyard which leaves the wine...(read more)

A single parcel at 620 metres supplies the grapes for Roberto Oliván's slightly funky, left-field blend of Tempranillo with 20% Garnacha, Viura and Malvasía. Firm, sappy and spicy, this was entirely ferment...(read more)

Anyone who argues that you need old vines to make a great wine in Rioja, or elsewhere, needs to visit Paso Las Mañas, which was planted in 2013 at an extreme 720 metres in Samaniego. Mountain herb aromas are a pre...(read more)

El Abundillano - a water fountain - is the name of the parcel as well as the wine here, located at 620 metres. Picked late, this old-vine blend of Garnacha with 10% Tempranillo and Malvasía is high in alcohol yet...(read more)

Three very old parcels between 70 and 80 years' old supply the grapes for this whole bunch-fermented cuvée of more or less equal parts Garnacha, Tempranillo and Monastrell. Serious, sappy and tannic, this wouldn't...(read more)

Roberto Oliván continues to produce exquisite wines with deep saturated colour and explosive aromatics like this. Veriquete is a plot that is just under half a hectare at nearly 600 Mtrs up in the Sierra Cantabria...(read more)

Las Guillermas is a 70-year-old parcel in the lower part of Lanciego, close to the River Ebro at around 400 metres. Combining Tempranillo and 40% Viura, this is light, fresh and well-balanced, with less alcohol than some...(read more)