The profile of the 2019 Garmón is quite classical Ribera del Duero, with good ripeness, Tempranillo typicity and generous oak, delivering wines of high regularity and a recognizable profile for the public. It has smoky notes of bacon and spices, black fruit, good ripeness, 14.5% alcohol and a juicy and creamy mouthfeel with ripe tannins and an oaky finish. It matured in 225-liter French oak barrels for 20 months. 49,504 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2021.

Eduardo García used fruit from six different villages – Anguix, Baños de Valdearados. La Aguilera, Moradillo, Quintanilla de Onésimo and Tubilla del Lago – to produce the latest vintage of this world-class red, blending their characters as an artist might mix a palette of colours. Spicy, chalky, structured yet refined, with haunting perfume, subtle oak, enviable density, energy and poise and the concentration to age. 2024-35

The only wine they produce here, the 2018 Garmón is pure Tempranillo from different villages with a continental climate, old organically and biodynamically farmed vineyards that are not certified. It fermented by village with indigenous yeasts and matured in 225-liter French oak barrels for 20 months. This reflects the cooler character of the year, and they maybe used a little more used oak (50/50). The wine is fresher, has a lot more acidity and is aromatic and open, with a better balance without losing structure. This is the finest wine they have produced so far, and they told me this is the kind of wine they wanted to make in Ribera del Duero, the Mauro style with finesse and elegance. It brought me to the character of the wines from yesteryear, rustic but with elegance, full of character and with energy and aging potential. 50,120 bottles produced. It was bottled in September 2020.

Deep, brilliant violet. Expansive cherry, blueberry, potpourri and exotic spice qualities on the intensely perfumed nose; vanilla and woodsmoke nuances add complexity. Deep, sweet and focused on the palate, offering powerful red and dark berry compote, lavender pastille and licorice flavors and a suave floral overtone. A spicy nuance gains strength on the long, energetic and youthfully tannic finish, which leaves smoke and mineral notes behind.

It’s easy to forget that the first vintage of Garmón was as recent as 2014, such is the quality of the wine, but the García family’s long-standing association with the region has certainly contributed to its success. Picked 10 days later than the 2017, this is my favourite release yet, combining vineyards between 30 and 100 years’ old in Anguix, Baños de Valdearados, Moradillo and Tubilla. Chalky, balanced and effortlessly refined, with notes of red berries, fennel and spice, subtle oak and thrilling freshness. A truly great Ribera.

Drinking Window 2025 – 2035

The flagship bottling from Bodegas Garmón includes plenty of old vines in the mix here, as the vines range from thirty to fully one hundred years of age! The vines sit at nine hundred

meters of elevation, are farmed organically and the wine is fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged for twenty months in French oak barrels. The wine comes in at 14.5 percent alcohol and is deep, pure and very classy on the nose, wafting from the glass in a mix of plums, black cherries, raw cocoa, a touch of fresh nutmeg, lovely soil tones, violets and vanillin oak. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and plush at the core, with fine soil signature, ripe, buried tannins, impressive focus and grip and a long, well-balanced and nascently complex finish that closes with just a bit of heat. This is a serious bottle of Ribera del Duero, but it will need a solid decade to start to soften up and drink with generosity. Fine juice. 2032-2080.

Very much a blend of villages, Mariano García’s remarkable wine uses fruit from four different areas, with altitudes of up to 1,000 metres. Subtle, floral and energetic, with finely judged oak, judiciously worked tannins, savoury, dark berry fruit, plenty of colour and considerable ageing potential. Firmly established as one of Ribera’s best cuvées. 2023-30

The 2017 Garmón was the first vintage fermented in their own winery, and the wine went through malolactic and an élevage of 18 months in barrique, but they increased the percentage of used barrels. The fruit is very clean and a mixture of red and black, and the tannins are soft, a bit grainy, with integrated oak. Like many of the 2017s from the family, the wine shows really well; they did a good job in a very challenging year. 50,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2019.

Drink Date: 2020 – 2026

Blackberry and cassis aromas are accompanied by savory notes and leathery warmth. Going in a different direction, the palate is crisp, tight and dry, with strapping muscularity. Black plum, wild berry, earthy spice, lemony oak and chocolaty support combine to create a superb flavor profile, while this is focused and firm on the finish.

Opaque ruby. Mineral- and spice-accented aromas of ripe red and dark berries, lavender and exotic spices on the deeply perfumed nose. Weighty and broad on the palate, offering juicy blackberry and bitter cherry flavors that show fine clarity and building sweetness. Turns spicier on the persistent finish, which features slowly mounting tannins and lingering mineral and floral notes.

All Tempranillo, the 2017 Garmon comes from vines ranging from 30 to 100 years of age and spent 18 months in French oak. It’s another ripe, sexy, yet beautifully balanced wine from this estate that has classic Tempranillo dark berry fruits, graphite, spice box, violet, and dried herb-like aromas and flavors. With medium to full-bodied richness, a rounded, expansive texture, and silky tannins, drink this beautifully polished, elegant Ribera over the coming decade or so.

Entero, perfiles de grandeza, para guardar. Elegantes aromas de fruta bien madura ensalzados y no solapados por la crianza, tonos florales y minerales, fondo de tinta. Con cuerpo y nervio, equilibrado, fresca acidez, taninos de calidad, amplio.

Picota de gran capa con borde granate. Intenso, complejo, sutiles aromas de fruta negra silvestre, pizarra, cacao, violetas, grafito, nuez moscada, ahumados, hojarasca, notas micológicas, tomillo, trufa negra, repostería, etc. Goloso, potente, envolvente, elegante esqueleto, aterciopelado y persistente final con una aromática retronasal. De larga vida.

Claramente es un vino que sabe compaginar fruta y buena crianza. Todo está en su sitio, nada sobra y todo acompaña. Aquí, la fruta es nítida, aparecen especiados y una agradable parte mineral. La boca es suculenta, estructurada, viva y, a su vez, vertical. Con una rica acidez, tiene un tanino redondo y un final largo en el que el recuerdo es persistente.

Color: cereza oscuro. Aroma: tostado, especiado, cacao fino, chocolate, fruta negra. Boca: sabroso, tostado, fino amargor.

Frutos negros maduros, elegante gesto reductivo más de fruta que de crianza, ceras, chocolate y regaliz negros, mineral ahumado, jara y flores, excepcional textura, fondo salino, con equilibrio y longitud.

Ripe black fruit, elegant reductive aspect (of fruit, more tan of crianza), waxy, chocolate and liquorice, smoked mineral, rockrose and flowers, exceptional texture and a saline finish, balanced and long.

Cropped from a cooler year, the 2016 Garmón is fresher, cooler and juicier, with elegant and polished tannins. The process is similar every year, and the differences are mostly due to vintage variations, but in this vintage, they used a higher percentage of used barriques for the élevage (50/50 new and used). 2016 is fresher, more elegant and a little lighter. It has a medium to full body and some grainy tannins. Give it a little more time before you pull the cork. 50,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2018.

Drink Date: 2019 – 2026

Mariano García’s brilliant project gets its fruit from four different villages with altitudes up to 1,000 metres. This scented, deeply coloured cuveé is floral, fresh and poised, with gratifuing freshness and potential. 2022-2035.

A polished texture carries focused flavors of black cherry, licorice, tar and mineral in this solid red. Sleek and crisp, this shows good definition. Drink now through 2028.

Bright, youthful purple. A highly perfumed bouquet evokes an array of red and blue fruit, floral and exotic spice qualities, and vanilla and roasted coffee notes emerge as the wine opens up. Sappy, concentrated and seamless in texture, offering sweet boysenberry and cherry flavors and a touch of smokiness. Shows excellent clarity and a repeating vanilla note on the clinging finish, which is given shape by supple, harmonious tannins.

A richly oaked nose is grainy and outright woody, with smoky blackberry notes and a hint of raisin filling in the cracks. A rough, drawing palate is tannic like nails, while this tastes of chocolaty black fruits. Intensity is a continuing theme maintained on a chocolaty finish that’s dry and pounding in texture; drink from 2021–2035. —M.S.

Perfil de gran ribera, con noble fuerza y mucha finura. En su primera fase pero ya sugestivo; nítidos frutales, florales, tinta, madera de calidad, balsámicos. Cuerpo medio-alto, equilibrado, bien construido, sensaciones de solidez y frescura.

Picota de capa alta con ribete violáceo. Profunda y fragante vía nasal, aromas de bayas silvestres, melocotón, florales, chocolate, nuez moscada, canela, infusiones, tinta china, grafito, tierra húmeda, caja de puros, sándalo, incienso… Potente, carnoso, estructurado, tanino maduro y aterciopelado recorrido. Persistente vía retronasal muy jugosa. Emociona.

Color: cereza intenso. Aroma: fruta madura, hierbas secas, roble cremoso, piedra seca, fruta roja. Boca: potente, fruta madura, especiado, taninos maduros.

The second vintage of the only wine produced here, the 2015 Garmón is from a dry and warm vintage. It fermented by plot with a pied de cuve in stainless steel vats, where the wine also underwent malolactic fermentation. The élevage was in 225- and 500-liter French oak barrels and lasted some 16 months. There was a little more new oak in 2015, and the year delivered riper wines; they tried to compensate with more grapes from cooler zones within Ribera del Duero. It has some grainy tannins and a round, wide palate. It’s a more powerful vintage. 45,936 bottles and 1,768 magnums were filled in June 2017. Forty percent of the volume is exported.

Drink Date: 2018 – 2025

Bold aromas of flowers, ripe berries and cassis carry the exotic nose. This bottling from the renowned García family is intense, tight and structured like a brick house. Boysenberry, blackberry and chocolaty oak are the most notable flavors, while this oozes coffeem toast and peppery spice on a hard-driving but focused finish. Drink from 2020-2038.

Inky ruby. Powerful, mineral-accented blackberry and cherry cola aromas are complemented by suggestions of incense, vanilla and pungent flowers. Supple, sweet and impressively concentrated, offering lush black and blue fruit, spicecake, mocha and violet pastille flavors braced by a spine of juicy acidity. Plush yet surprisingly lively in character, with a suave floral note and velvety tannins on an impressively long, sweet finish.

A relatively new wine from Mariano García and his sons; the brand comes from a merger of their surnames. Made from 30 to 80 year-old Tempranillo, from a blend of vineyards. Very fine fruit expression with a rasp of tannin. Controlled and not at all overextracted.

Con mucho carácter, muy fino en la nariz y enérgico en la boca. Fino, sutil, estilizado, con fresco carácter frutal, notas florales, minerales y de tinta. Estructurado, equilibrado, cuerpo medio-alto, taninos firmes, fresca acidez, sabroso, amplio.

Picota de capa alta con borde granate. Aromática y muy compleja vía nasal, recuerdos de fruta roja y negra en sazón, paloduz, flores, cobertura de chocolate, infusiones, carbón vegetal, romero, incienso, toffee, mentoles y crema inglesa. Aterciopelado, de gran frescura, muy frutal, en su recorrido quedan notas de frambuesas, caramelo de fresas ácidas, galleta de canela, vainilla, balsámicos, hierbas aromáticas, tabaco, caja de puros, pastelería, etc. Vía retronasal llena de matices. Primario, elegante y envolvente.

The first wine ever produced here is the 2014 Garmón, pure Tempranillo from a diversity of villages all in the province of Burgos, La Aguilera, Moradillo or Baños-Tubilla. All grapes were destemmed and the wine aged in 50/50 new and used French barriques for 16 months. It’s quite smoky (smoked bacon) with plenty of spices, generously oaked in general. The sweet spices are combined with sweet fruit, a sensation perceived mainly in the palate. I’d say it’s quite typical of the Mariano García style, keeping the Tempranillo character of the grapes in the cooler zone of the appellation, perfumed and with some oak tannins to be resolved by some more time in bottle. This was produced in the Aalto winery, while they build their own space in the village of Olivares de Duero. 36,800 bottles and 500 magnums were filled in June 2016.

Drink Date: 2018 – 2024

Loamy earth and black olive notes frame black plum and currant in this solid red. The muscular tannins are well-integrated, with toasty hints on the finish. Tempranillo. Drink now through 2029.

Picota profundo con ribete violáceo. Intenso, complejo, aromas de zarzamoras, cassis, violetas, canela, nuez moscada, chocolate, bizcocho, grafito, betún, romero, tomillo, incienso, sándalo, bosque umbrío, notas micológicas, tabaco de pipa… Potente, estructurado, envolvente recorrido, sensaciones de arándanos, picotas, ciruelas maduras, cacao, especias dulces, paloduz, tierra húmeda, minerales, caja de puros, mentoles, té, ceniza de leña… Persistente y largo final. Amplio y carnoso.

Fresco, fino, noble fuerza. Vivos recuerdos de frutos silvestres maduros, tonos discretos de crianza, toques minerales, florales y de tinta. Magnífico equilibrio, con cuerpo y nervio, taninos de calidad, sabroso, expresivo, sugestivo, amplio.