2019 El Vino Prodigo 'La Vina de Merce' Crianza

From perhaps our favorite importer of truly artisanal and very high-quality wines at incredibly reasonable prices, Alex Finberg and the Transparent Wine Company, this rare Rioja was our favorite wine of his portfolio tasting.

Top-notch Rioja: the way it can/should be. And a Rioja that’s both more “real” and still more pure, supple and delicious than just about any Rioja we’ve had.

With only a hundred cases made, though, we have very little of it.

The “prodigal son” here, by the way, refers to the winemaker Pedro Pecina Gil, who is the son of legendary Rioja magician Pedro Pecina, one of our favorites.

Though I find the son’s wines even more pure, polished and delicious than the master’s.

By far the best price anywhere. (Though just finding this rare Rioja at all is quite a task.)