2023 Artadi Valdegines Alava, Spain

I tasted an unbottled sample of the 2023 Valdeginés from vines planted between 1982 and 1989, part on a slope on soft sandstone and part in a terrace with deeper and cooler soils. Malolactic and aging were in 600-liter barrels, and the wine spent the second winter in oak foudres. This is a textbook example of the 2023s here, with a riper nose but a finer-boned palate and lower alcohol than in 2022 and with the elegance and minerality of Laguardia.

97 Pts Luis Gutiérrez, Robert Parker