Ribera under £30
Ribera del Duero runs east to west in Castilla y León, and is home to many top Spanish wines. The region is far from homogeneous; indeed, there is a huge diversity of terroirs. To say that a wine is from Ribera del Duero can be as vague as saying that a wine is from Burgundy.
There are just two main grape varieties: Tinta Fina (aka Tempranillo) for red wines and Albillo Mayor for white wines. Tempranillo gives an amazing array of wine styles and qualities in Ribera, but labels are not very helpful for navigating this complex mix.
Indeed, the regoin’s consejo regulador recognises only one classification, based on the time a wine spends ageing in oak barrels – as in many other regions of Spain. However, at present such classification is almost irrelevant, except for the gran reserva category, because it doesn’t give a true indication of quality.
Most producers at the top omit any such
