2018 Care Garnacha Syrah Tinto Sobre Lias Spain 750 ml

It’s hard to think of a country with more vinous values than Spain, but even within a land of top-quality wines at below-market prices, Bodegas Care’s rich, crowd-pleasing Sobre Lias is a head-turning deal.

We fell in love with this 90-point Garnacha-Syrah blend for its bold fruit, long finish, and velvety mouthfeel even before we knew how inexpensive it was—but our price isn't a misprint.

Sobre Lias is a full-bodied red from Cariñena—“Spain’s hottest region,” according to Wine Enthusiast—whose bold, generous texture is crowd-pleasing and easy to love. James Suckling praised it for being “plush and attractive” in his 90-point review, and we’d be fans even if this wine were $20 per bottle—but its tiny price tag reflects our obsession with taking "value" to the next level.

With intense aromas of ripe blackberries, dark plums, Malabar pepper, and lilacs, it reminds us of wines from the Rhône. But the palate delivers a bit more Spanish sunshine, with a rich mouthfeel and gentle tannins framing bold, dark fruit flavors accented by a touch of thyme and mocha. It’s dangerously delicious, and one glass easily turns into two, either on its own or alongside chicken roasted with Moroccan spices and preserved lemon or a hanger steak with a quick pan sauce.

Cariñena is the birthplace of Garnacha, known in France as Grenache, and Bodegas Care has vines that date back to 1915. Those old, gnarled plants form the backbone of this blend, with roots that reach deep into the limestone-heavy soils in search of water, bringing back character and complexity. Syrah gets blended in for fruit flavor, richness, and power—leading to a wine that offers a thrilling balance between rich fruit, hints of dried herbs and spices, and a velvety mouthfeel.

In the winery, Bodegas Care exercises levels of care and technique that we usually see in wines triple the price to create a suede-textured bottling with pure fruit and elegance. They handle the grapes gently, fermenting them in unique, truncated-cone fermenters for gentle extraction, before pressing in basket-style presses to avoid hard tannins and ensure the wine has a velvety mouthfeel. Truly, the only thing “value” about this bottling is the price.

Unfortunately, history tells us that it’s only a matter of time before the wines of Cariñena, and Bodegas Care specifically, become significantly more expensive as the wider world catches on.