Villacreces Ribera Del Duero Reserva 2003

I took some colleagues to Fino Restaurant last night (you can read the review on The London Restaurant Review website) and we pushed the boat out further than normal and tried the 2003 Villacreces Reserva from Ribera Del Duero.

Regular readers of mine know that I love wines from Ribera Del Duero and rate them more highly than Riojas.

This was from the 2003 vintages which Pocket Vintages rates as a 'good' year for Ribera.  At £53 a bottle in the restaurant, we were expecting a better than average wine, especially since this was a reserva.

We were not disappointed.  It was a classic - smooth, rich, velvety and Ribena esque.  The Sommerlier offered to decant it for us and the second half of the bottle was smoother than the first half.

Overall I'd give it a 7/10.  If it were cheaper, it would score higher, but the cheapest place I could find it was on the Nicholls and Perks website, priced at £18.50 a bottle.