Bodegas Palacios Remondo 2021 Rioja Finca La Montesa Crianza 750ml

I had not yet tasted the 2021 La Montesa, and I'm glad I did. Álvaro Palacios was super proud of this vintage, and he told me that "many people consider it at the level of a very good Burgundy village at a fraction of the price!" It is indeed a great value, even more so in an exceptional year like 2021. But it was unmistakably Garnacha, with notes of garrigue and aromatic herbs, red cherries and flowers. It fermented with 20% full clusters in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in barrel for 12 months. It's clean and precise, with a lace texture, very fine tannins, flavors of red berries and herbs and a long, tasty, chalky finish. It has to be one of the finest vintages of Montesa to date. It has 14.3% alcohol, a pH of 3.5 and 5.3 grams of acidity. It's not a small cuvée; they produced 592,372 bottles! It was bottled in March 2023.

Score: 94 points -- Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate, 2024