2018 Palacios Remondo "La Montesa" Rioja Crianza

93 Points from Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: "The quality/price champion 2018 La Montesa is now 100% Garnacha from organically farmed vineyards from the 100-hectare family property that gives the wine its name. It fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel vats and matured in barriques, 85% of them produced with French oak and the rest with American oak. It feels very young, and the oak is still present; and the American oak, which is spicy and smoky, with ashy incense and vanilla with some sweet undertones, gives it a character that brings back the character of the traditional wines from yesteryear in a very clean way. It has vibrant freshness and should develop nicely with a couple of years in bottle. It has great purity and typicity, less Mediterranean than the 2017, nicely textured, velvety. I think the breakthrough vintage for this wine was 2015. This has all the grapes that would have been used for the Propiedad label, which was not bottled separately in 2018. It carries the EU organic-farming label. It's quite impressive for the quantity they produce—700,000 bottles. They started bottling in April 2020 from a single master blend. I tasted one of the first bottles." (10/30/2020)

92 Points from Decanter Magazine: "Refreshing and thirst quenching. Practically 100% Garnacha, all destemmed. It’s pale, perfumed, pure and lightly packed with bramble fruits and raspberries, giving a piquant lift of bright acidity. Matured 12 months in barrel, as is the practice of Rioja crianza." (1/30/24)

90 Points from Wine Enthusiast Magazine: "Dark-ruby to the eye, this wine has a bouquet of cherry, blackberry and dried hillside herbs. It is bright on entry, with flavors of cranberry, raspberry, mint and lavender. The finish is marked by notes of orange zest and butterscotch." (4/1/23)