"The Crianza and Reserva have been merged into a single 2015 Pago de Carraovejas, a case study of success in Spain showcasing the ripe and powerful style of Ribera del Duero with generous oak and concentration. It's a heady Tempranillo (complemented by some 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Merlot) with 15% alcohol and moderate acidity. A whopping 700,000 bottles and 14,000 magnums produced. The quality is impressive for the volume. A crowd-pleaser (in its style). - Luis Gutierrez"
- Robert Parker's The Wine Advocate (Issue #238, August 31st 2018), 92 pts
"The 2015 Ribera del Duero is a blend of mostly Tempranillo yet includes 6% Cabernet Sauvignon and 4% Merlot, all brought up in French oak. It has a rockingly good bouquet of blueberries, violets, and spice. This carries to a full-bodied, sexy wine that has no hard edges, a seamless texture, outstanding purity of fruit, and a big finish. It’s a serious wine that I suspect is capable of keeping for 10-15 years."
"Lactic oak combined with very ripe fruit results in aromas of buttermilk, jammy berry, cough drop and campfire. In the mouth, this feels severely tannic and packed to the brim with fruit. Oak-based flavors blanket berry tastes, while this remains woody as a sawmill on the finish. - MICHAEL SCHACHNER"
"This offers a wealth of ripe dark berries and plums on the nose with good purity. The palate has a very juicy and concentrated feel. The tannins are nicely groomed. This holds good shape and length. Drink or hold."
"The toasty 2018 Pago de Carraovejas is lush, generous, ripe and well oaked, with aromas of ripe black fruit and plenty of sweet spices. It's full-bodied and reveals abundant, fine-grained tannins and a finish dominated by oak-related flavors. This has a commercial profile for those who like ripe and well-oaked Tempranillo, very good in its style and with the freshness of the vintage."
"Glass-staining ruby. Intensely perfumed cherry liqueur, blackberry, potpourri and licorice qualities on the highly fragrant nose, along with emerging spice and mineral nuances. Sappy and energetic on the palate, offering concentrated cherry-vanilla, dark berry preserve and spicecake flavors that firm up through the midpalate. Shows a suave interplay of richness and energy and finishes impressively long, smoky and precise, with a resonating floral note and polished tannins adding subtle grip. - Josh Raynolds"