2019 Altos de Valdoso Crianza Ribera del duero 750 ml

He swore that one of Madrid’s great wine bars was just a few steps away. But at almost midnight, passing through a narrow street with graffiti-covered walls and a lone apotheke sign glowing in the distance, we were getting a bit skeptical. 

Sure enough, about halfway down the street, the graffiti-covered wall gave way to a spotless plate glass window. We’d found Angelita—one of our Master Somm Sur Lucero’s favorite wine bars on the planet.

There are some big-money wines on Angelita’s 2,000-bottle list, but it’s wines like the 2019 Altos de Valdoso Ribera del Duero that stand out. Grown on 25–30-year-old vines at over 2,700 feet of elevation, it’s deep, savory, and structured. And with 94 points and Editors’ Choice honors from Wine Enthusiast, it tops bottles 2-3 times the price. 

The Tempranillo in Altos de Valdoso grows at 3,000 feet above sea level in Spain’s arid interior. That cool niche within a generally warm region is the same killer context that drives top quality in places like Napa’s Howell Mountain and Bolgheri in Tuscany. And those are precisely the kind of grape-growing edens that come to mind when we talk about this high river valley east of Aranda de Duero. 

All of Altos de Valdoso’s 138 hectares of vines sit at 2,750 feet or above, and the only grape they work with is Tinto Fino (Tempranillo). The crianza bottling comes from vines of medium age, 25–30 years. The grapes are hand-harvested. After maceration, fermentation, and malolactic conversion, the wine ages for 14 months in American and French oak barriques.