Bodega Lanzaga - 2018 - Las Beatas - 750 ml.

It's always a very exciting moment when tasting a new vintage of what has quickly become one of the icons from Rioja. The 2018 Las Beatas comes from a very wet year that saw a late harvest, starting October 8 and finishing on November 1, and these grapes were picked in mid-October to deliver a more aromatic and cool expression of the place. The field blend of grapes fermented in a 3,000-liter open-top oak vat with indigenous yeasts, and the wine matured in a 1,200-liter oak foudre for 14 to 16 months. This is not as powerful and concentrated as the 2015, but it's more elegant and fluid, with great purity and inner strength. The grapes ripened very slowly, and the wine developed great complexity and nuance. It feels young and undeveloped, a little closed at first, in need of some more time to develop further complexity in bottle. It's tender and young, easy to drink, approachable and round, but with all the ingredients to develop nicely in bottle.

James Suckling: 100

This is incredible on the nose with fresh flowers, spices, pure dark fruit and hints of stones. Full-bodied and so refined and polished with such intensity and length. Just goes on and on ... forever. A magical wine. From organically grown grapes. Please leave it for five or six years, if you can.