The Wine Merchant Top 100 2025

The second wine in this year’s Top 100 from the consistently excellent Rioja producer Bodegas Ontanon is a wine from the Perez Cuevas family’s special project devoted to expressing the vineyards around their home village of Quel. Predominantly made from selected plots of Tempranillo, it’s aged for 18 months in a mix of 80% French and 20% American new oak. “Smoky pipe tobacco with blackberry and a hint of clove on the nose, that smokiness continuing onto the palate like smoked bacon and wood-panelled rooms, mingling beautifully with fresh fruit and fine tannins,” the judges said. Top 100 The Wine Merchant Top 100 (July 2025)

Silver Medal Decanter Wine Awards 2025 for V2020 - Gentle perfume with savoury nuances, toasty cedar and balsamic undertones, under a core of jammy red fruit. Muscular palate.