Miguel Merino 2016 Gran Reserva 750ml

The textbook 2016 Gran Reserva is elegant but lively, keeping fruit with tension and freshness. They matured it in new French barrels for two years and a further year in used French oak barrels. The wine has lots of power and stuffing and has notes of incense, nutmeg and cigar ash, with abundant, slightly grainy tannins. So, it has a slightly different spice profile from the wines matured in American oak, livelier and more powerful.

Score: 94 points -- Luis Gutierrez, The Wine Advocate, 2022