Dominio del Aguila
Reserva
Ribera del Duero
2016

The producer

Terroir and very old vines – in this case at 800 metres near the village of La Aguilera (hence the name) – are the essence of the very fine wines from this estate. Rather than Bordeaux varieties the old vineyard has Tempranillo co-planted with Garnacha, Carinena, Bobal, Blanca del Pais and more. The vineyards are farmed organically, and the wines made traditionally, and the results are exceptional, even modern if old can become new.

The wine

Del Aguila’s Reserva is a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Bobal and Blanco del Pais, and is sourced from the oldest vines – many over 100 years old – growing at 800 meters altitude in the village of La Aguilera. Fruit is foot trodden and whole bunch co-fermented in concrete vats, to retain maximum purity of fruit; following, the wine is aged for 35 months in old French oak barrels before bottling. Concentrated and firmly structured, Aguila’s Reserva bottling is true Ribera in character, yet with an unparalleled refinement and elegance.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.