2010 Rioja Gran Reserva for a Sub-$30 Steal 

2010 Bodegas Casa Juan "Señor de Lesmos" Gran Reserva Rioja ($29.99)

K&L Notes: This 2010 Gran Reserva from our favorite Rioja winery is back in stock! As is the case with so many other great spots in Spain, Bodega Casa Juan is located opposite the village church, in the beautiful walled pueblo of Laguardia. The winery is a converted flour mill, featuring concrete tanks for fermenting and blending the wine, and barrels that are used for up to seven years. These are traditional Riojas in elaboration and spirit, though the site specificity of their Laguardia and Villabuena vineyards confers a fruit character all its own to these wines. This is an amazing value for aged, quality Gran Reserva Rioja. All estate fruit, hand-harvested, and carefully vinified with native yeasts, this is a hand-sewn wine with the purity, texture, and elegance to prove it.

Kirk Walker | K&L Spain Buyer | Review Date: June 13, 2022

Now this is a special occasion wine that needs no special occasion at this unbelievable price! This wine, at 12 years old, has come out the other side of its time in oak and additional time in bottle like it was nothing! There is a crazy amount of still fresh dark berry fruit to this wine. It takes a second to find it, past the ridiculous complexity of spice, mixed fresh and dried herbs, leather, and exotic woods, but it is there, and once you find it, it just grows and grows and grows. What a nose! There are only a handful of wines from around the world that can offer such an aromatically complex nose, and none at this price point! It is on the palate that you get a sense of the age of the wine. It is in the softer tannins, the round, mellow, settled-in thing that happens with older Rioja. It has an ease to it, and you can tell that it does not want to try and impress you. You get it or you don't, and that's fine. There is still a freshness to the dark berry fruit too. It is medium weight, mellow, and complex. This is a wine for hanging out and nibbling on some cheese or a really great, simply prepared cut of meat.

Scott Beckerley | K&L Staff Member | Review Date: June 27, 2022

Another lovely release from Señor de Lesmos. "Old school" nose with black fruits, tobacco, earth, leather, and sandalwood. Quite a bit different on the palate. It is full and rich, with dark red fruits, baking spices and mellow oak. Soft and supple with fine-grained tannins. Bordeaux fans will love this one. A great little Reserva for under thirty dollars! Oh, and Kirk also talked them into selling us mags of this!