Spain on Top: Wine Spectator’s 2026 Spanish Wine Report

Spain has plenty to celebrate this year, and it’s not just this summer’s World Cup victory.

Since my previous report on Spanish wines (“The Spirit of Spain,” Oct. 15 & 31, 2025), I’ve reviewed more than 640 new releases from the region. Once again, the breadth of distinctive offerings is impressive, with bottlings from wineries located in nearly 50 separate areas—primarily established DOs (Denominación de Origen)—producing wine from nearly as many varieties. More than two-thirds of reviewed bottlings are red wines, followed by 22% white wines and the remainder spread among sparkling, rosé, dessert and fortified versions.

Quality is also on solid display, with two dozen wines earning a classic score (95–100 points on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale). These highly rated new releases are bolstered by the results of recent harvests—2022 and 2023—but also by vintage depth, with many wines waiting in cellars until this year. The wealth of newly released older vintages is another strength of Spain’s for wine lovers to explore and enjoy.

Among this report’s best wines, the Ribera del Duero appellation edges out bottlings from Rioja, with nine wines (versus eight) at 95 points or higher. Leading the way are two examples from Ribera’s historic and qualitative leader, Bodegas Vega Sicilia. The winery’s Unico Reserva Especial NV (97, $1,150) typically excels beyond the vintage-dated Unico bottling. But this year’s Unico, a 2016 (97, $800), benefits from the strength of the vintage versus the Reserva Especial’s blend of the 2011, 2012 and 2014 vintages.

(Lisa Aurigemma)

Along with the winery’s third red, the “introductory” Valbuena 5° 2021 (94, $258), the lineup showcases Vega Sicilia’s house style. These bottlings often highlight characteristics I associate with aged Amarone della Valpolicella. They offer length and depth of flavor, with fragrant herbal and spice notes to the generous profile of dried and plumped fruit. Like the best aged Amarones, that generosity is partnered with a spine of fresh focus that supports ageability and balance. This precision winemaking stands out, and the winery’s fans seek it out year after year.

Vega Sicilia’s bottled expression brings together history, tradition and stylistic consistency, perennially earning the wines top marks in my blind tastings. Other producers from Ribera del Duero show similar qualitative drive, but with a contemporary lens related to terroir.

In 1999 wine merchant Miguel Sánchez established Dominio de Atauta to preserve and highlight the old vines found in the Soria subregion of Ribera, where Sánchez was born and raised. The area boasts plots that are a century old or more, and its remote location and sandy soils support many prephylloxera vines.

Although Sánchez sold Atauta in the late 2000s to a winery group known today as Terra Selecta, the focus on single-plot bottlings has remained unchanged. Agronomist Ismael Sanz, who joined the winery in 2010, works alongside technical director and winemaker Jaime Suárez (2016) to carry Sánchez’s mission forward.

“Rioja is in one of its best moments. Everyone is experimenting.”—Julio Sáenz

The results are exciting. The winery’s lineup includes five single-site wines from the 2020 release. Bottlings from the 3.43-acre Llanos del Almendro ($200) and 1.11-acre San Juan ($350) plots lead the pack with 96-point reviews. The La Mala (1.73 acres, 95 points, $200), La Roza (0.59 acres, 94, $350) and Valdegatiles (2.69 acres, 93, $200) versions are just a step or two behind. There’s a statuesque feel to these wines that suggests long aging potential, but they’re so graceful and well-meshed that they’re also a pleasure to enjoy today.

Atauta’s top bottlings command top bottle prices, and they’re only available in the United States in small volumes. But the winery’s other quality offerings should be easier to find—and at more wallet-friendly prices. The 2022 Ribera del Duero (92, $50) blends about 25 different sites from around the Atauta Valley, with the grapes sourced from 100% prephylloxera vines boasting an average age of 130 to 190 years. At the La Celestina estate, the Dominio de Atauta team blends grape sources from both Soria and Ribera’s Burgos area to produce the La Celestina Crianza 2022 (91, $25).

Even if the most expensive examples from Ribera del Duero command hundreds of dollars per bottle, the majority of area wine is available in the $25 to $60 price range. For particular value, look for Bodegas Protos’ richly aromatic Ribera del Duero 5° Año Reserva 2021 (93, $46); the Bela Ribera del Duero Villalba de Duero 2024 (91, $20), the Ribera outpost from Rioja’s CVNE winery; and the well-knit 2023 Vendimia Seleccionada Crianza (90, $19) from Bodegas y Viñedos Tamaral.

Rioja: Heritage and Innovation

As Spain’s oldest DO, since 1925, Rioja boasts deep heritage, with American wine lovers well-versed in the tradition of the region’s oak-aged wines labeled as crianza, reserva and gran reserva. These bottlings still make up the majority in the marketplace and typically blend grape sources from multiple areas in Rioja to support higher volume.

Aged for at least five years before release, including a minimum of two years in oak barrels, gran reservas are the peak expression of this Rioja tradition. Among gran reservas in this year’s tastings, four rose to the top, with each earning 94 points.

La Rioja Alta only releases the Rioja 890 Gran Reserva (2011: $299) two or three times per decade, from vintages that the team feels support the bottling’s opulent style. Bodegas Muga ages its Rioja Prado Enea Gran Reserva 2019 ($130) for four years in oak vats and barrels, all coopered at the winery, before an additional three years of bottle age.

The remaining two 94-point gran reservas’ labels focus on Rioja’s aging regimen despite the fact they’re terroir-driven bottlings. Grapes for the Viñedos de Páganos Rioja El Puntido Gran Reserva 2015 ($130) are sourced from higher-altitude, lower-yielding parcels of the El Puntido estate vineyard.

Since its first vintage in 1974, the Viñedos del Contino Rioja Gran Reserva 2019 ($80) has been produced entirely from grapes from the 150-acre Contino estate. “The idea of Contino—since the beginning—is to let the terroir shine, even if nowadays this is more common,” says María Urrutia Ybarra, who owns Rioja’s CVNE and Contino with her brother Víctor Urrutia Ybarra.

Today the region’s top reds are often focused on site specificity. Of eight Riojas rated 95 points or higher, five are single-vineyard wines, including Álvaro Palacios’ Quiñón de Valdlareina 2023 (96, $250), the La Nieta 2023 (96, $325) and the El Puntido 2022 (95, $70) from Viñedos de Páganos, plus both the Amancio 2022 (96, $250) and the Finca El Bosque 2023 (95, $220) from Bodegas Sierra Cantabria.

Oak barrels, all crafted in-house by Bodegas Muga’s master cooper and team of barrel makers, hold the winery’s Prado Enea gran reserva. (Courtesy of Bodegas Muga)

The Torre de Oña Rioja Alavesa El Camino 2023 (95, $280), from Haro-based La Rioja Alta’s outpost near Laguardia, is almost a single-vineyard. It sources fruit from adjacent old-vine (average 80 years) plots outside of the village of Elvillar. This relatively new label (debuted with the 2021 vintage) is a way to explore the impact of climate change via high-altitude sites.

“I think Rioja is in one of its best moments,” says La Rioja Alta and Torre de Oña winemaker Julio Sáenz. “Everyone is experimenting—with barrels, grape blends, sites. It offers a lot of ways to look at Rioja.”

Priorat, Toro and the Spain’s Other Stellar Reds

Among red wines in the annual report, Rioja and Ribera del Duero always dominate the tastings; this year, they account for a third and a quarter of reds under review, respectively. But that leaves a significant number of others.

The remaining group is led both quantitatively and qualitatively by Priorat and neighboring Montsant, on Spain’s northeastern coast. I was also impressed with reds from Toro in central Spain, Calatayud and Campo de Borja, inland and just south of Rioja, and Alicante and Jumilla to the southeast of Spain.

Collectively, these reds are historically known for their power and full body. From Toro, I feel this is still a good summary. Its hot, dry summers and cold, intense winters yield dark, structured Tempranillo grapes, known locally as Tinta de Toro. Top producers, including Bodega Numanthia, Bodegas y Viñedos Pintia, Bodegas Campo Elíseo, San Román Bodegas y Viñedos and Teso La Monja, marry dense, sculpted tannins to a backbone of refreshing acidity for a concentrated expression.

Beyond Toro, along the eastern seaboard and just inland, I see a slow move toward freshness, with more moderate weight and overall harmony. It’s not an across-the-board movement, but it’s happening.

Priorat rose to rapid fame in the 1990s and 2000s and was best known then for concentrated, well-oaked reds. Although the DO requires a majority of Garnacha (Grenache) and Samsó (Cariñena or Carignan), “international” varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon and Franc, Syrah, and Merlot are also allowed. Formerly, these varieties played a more significant role in the blend.

Bodegas Juan Gil winemaker Bartolomé Abellán (left) in the vineyard with Chris Ringland, who co-founded the neighboring Bodegas El Nido winery with the Gil family in 2001. (Courtesy of Bodegas Juan Gil)

Today, bottlings often eschew international varieties entirely; 100% Garnacha or Garnacha with a small quantity of Samsó is not uncommon. Though not the only factor contributing to a more elegant style, it brings a certain focus and purity.

“If you compare the 2022 Clos Mogador to 1992, there’s a big change,” says René Barbier Meyer, winemaker with his father, also René Barbier, of the family’s Clos Mogador and other estates in the area. “At that time, it was Garnacha and Cabernet—50-50—and done in a French way. Now it’s Garnacha and Cariñena.” Additionally, larger, neutral oak barrels for fermentation and aging, plus minimizing punch-downs and extraction, are leading to more balanced profiles.

Garnacha is the primary variety for wines from Calatayud and Campo de Borja, while the highly tannic Monastrell (Mourvèdre) is the base for bottlings from Alicante and Jumilla. While recent releases from these areas still typically offer an exuberant fruit focus and plush texture, bright acidity brings harmony, and the tannins have a sleek, sculpted feel—less bodybuilder, more gymnast.

In this camp, seek out Marea’s finely meshed Alicante Sylarion 2024 (93, $125); Bodegas Juan Gil’s fresh and floral Jumilla Blue Label 2023 (92, $36); Bodegas Alto Moncayo’s black plum-infused Garnacha Campo de Borja Veraton 2023 (91, $38); and any Garnachas from Calatayud’s Raíces Ibéricas, including the top bottling, the Calatayud Las Pizarras Las Lomas Las Parcelas Aisladas 2022 (92, $60), a fresh red with good focus.

Cava, Albariño and Spain’s Rising White Wines

Fully 30% of wines reviewed for this report are white, sparkling, rosé and dessert or fortified.

Spanish sparkling wine has made strides recently, with the Cava DO adopting new regulations that require 100% organic viticulture for the denomination’s top bottlings (those labeled reserva, gran reserva and Paraje Calificado). These changes went into effect in 2025.

“I resist that Cava is dead and only for cheap stuff,” says Víctor Urrutia Ybarra, who owns Cava’s Roger Goulart as well as estates throughout Spain including Rioja’s CVNE. “Even if it’s unfashionable, I’ll continue to produce Cava. They’ve made efforts [with their organic initiatives] that are really bold. I don’t see any other big appellation doing that.” Goulart’s lineup includes the Brut Rosé Cava 2024 and the Extra Brut Cava Gran Reserva 2022, both at 91 points and $24 per bottle, and the Brut Cava Reserva Made With Organic Grapes 2022 (89, $24).

With a consistent focus on single-plot expressions, Dominio de Atauta evokes the terroir of Ribera del Duero at a range of price points. (Courtesy of Dominio de Atauta)

The commitment to organic viticulture is one of the tenets of the Corpinnat organization, which producers like Goulart and others have considered joining. This small collective includes wineries that left the Cava DO because they felt its regulations were not rigorous enough, among other concerns.

Corpinnat got a boost this year when one of Cava’s quality leaders, Juvé y Camps, announced it would join the organization. In the coming years the winery’s offerings, including long-aged examples such as the Brut Nature Cava La Capella Gran Reserva 2012 (94, $200), will be labeled as a Vino Espumoso Corpinnat instead of a Cava.

The white wines of Spain are led by mineral-driven styles from the Rías Baixas DO, a northwestern region that sends about a quarter of its production to the United States. That encompasses wineries native to the region as well as outside investment from some of Spain’s biggest names in Rioja, Ribera and beyond.

“For me, Albariño is Spain’s most interesting white grape,” says Pablo Alvarez, owner of Ribera del Duero’s Bodegas Vega Sicilia and Bodegas y Viñedos Alion wineries, plus estates in other red wine regions. Alvarez put his money where his mouth is when he began buying vineyards in Rías Baixas about five years ago. “They’re some of the most expensive vineyards in Spain right now,” he adds. The newly established winery, Bodegas y Viñedos Deiva, will debut late in 2026. “There’s so much potential in Albariño.”

Albariño’s ability to express itself in a variety of styles is what’s fueling interest and growth. Many examples are fermented and minimally aged in stainless steel to create mouthwatering styles with citrus and stone fruit flavors, salinity, and floral and herb hints. These vivid versions are typically produced at higher volumes and available at wallet-friendly prices. Try Bodegas Terras Gauda’s Albariño Rias Baixas Abadía de San Campio 2024 (91, $17) or Bodegas La Val’s Albariño Rias Baixas 2025 (90, $20).

Selection in the vineyard and choices in the winery bring greater weight and focus to La Cana’s mouthwatering Albariño, sourced from 1970s-era plots for 12 months. (Courtesy of Bodegas La Cana)

In the vineyard, vine age and fruit ripeness at harvest, among other considerations, can add up to greater complexity in the finished wine. In the winery, multiple approaches can help yield textural finesse, depth and longer ageability—selected yeasts; extended maceration, bâtonnage and fermentation; and aging in oak, concrete or other vessels. Bodegas La Cana’s Albariño Rias Baixas La Caña Navia 2024 (92, $45), sourced from vineyards dating to the 1970s and fermented and aged for 12 months in a mix of new and used 500- and 600-liter oak demi-muids, is a fine example.

Elsewhere in Spain’s white wine–producing regions, a similar scenario plays out as producers explore the capability of native grapes to deliver diverse expressions. Examples based on the Viura grape in Rioja, Verdejo in Rueda, and Godello from Bierzo and the Galicia region, are made both as light, bright sippers and as elegant whites aged at the winery before release and often capable of additional cellaring and development afterward. Recommendations include the La Granja Nuestra Señora de Remelluri Rioja White Alavesa 2022 (93, $155), the Bodegas Vatan Verdejo Rueda Nisia Old Vines 2025 (90, $22) and the Virgen del Galir Godello Valdeorras Maruxa 2025 (90, $20).

It’s an interesting time to explore white wine, with wineries throughout the country making rapid and exciting advances. There are pleasing surprises around most corners and diversity from sparklers to dessert wines. And with the strength and history of the country’s red wines, now is the time for wine lovers to turn their attention to Spain.

Senior editor Alison Napjus is Wine Spectator’s lead taster on the wines of Spain.

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