We’re not exactly sure why Spain’s Bodegas Montegaredo seems to be flying under the radar. After all, the fantastic terroir of their Ribera del Duero location has been known as far back as the 10th century, when monks of the Monastery of Boada recognized how special the area’s microclimate could be in creating fantastic wines.
Farming vines that in some cases are well over 70 years old, with plantings that can reach over 3,000 feet in elevation, Montegaredo painstakingly hand-picks and hand-prunes their vineyards. Their traditional techniques are married to modern winemaking in a semi-underground cellar that claims to be the world’s only Pyramid-shaped winery!
After tasting Montegaredo’s Crianza, we scooped up as much as they could allow us to import for the US. And if they keep crafting reds like this 2022, they’re not going to be an undiscovered gem for very long. After taking a sip of this delicious, elegant red, it’s hard to keep your hands off of it— a second glass is irresistible immediately after the first one. Our advice is to grab a sizable stash of this red now, before too many other Ribera red wine lovers find out about it!