Bodegas Valdaya, Ribera del Duero

Ribera del Duero might just be the most top-heavy region in the wine world. International collectors and critics zero in on just two estates, Vega Sicilia and Pingus, and prices for those wines have skyrocketed accordingly. Hundreds of wineries toil away in their shadows. But today, Valdaya’s Ribera del Duero steps out of the umbra and stands shoulder-to-shoulder with those giants.Sourced from nearly century-old Tempranillo vines, fermented in single-barrel lots, and shepherded into bottle by a couple who cut their teeth in Bordeaux and Napa, this is as elite, polished, and detailed as winemaking gets. And it’s not some collector’s item you need to sit on for a decade before discovering its full potential, either: This powerfully mineral and luxuriantly dark-fruited beauty is already starting to fulfill its promise! Of course, you can keep on cellaring it, too, because, like the two legends above, this will keep providing full-throated joy for years and years to come. It just happens t