Quinta Milú, Ribera Del Duero

There's something special about really good Spanish wine. I don't know exactly what it is, but for me there is something unique in a bottle of cracking Spanish red that is unmatched worldwide. Maybe its the really nice hint of spice that you get, or just the fruit flavours...

I have been drinking 2012 Quinta Milú from Ribera del Duero in Spain, and it's bloody brilliant.

Personally, at a certain price point, I would choose a wine from the Ribera del Duero region over the much more popular Rioja (Ribera is just slightly further west than the Rioja region) because I feel that the region offers much better value; although, I think this is partly to with the fact that Rioja is now so well known that prices are going up and up on wines that once would have been dirt cheap, all because of the region on the label.

Quinta Milú is a really well balanced wine that tastes suitably Spanish. The colour is an intense dark red with a purple hint, this is partly down to it being such a young wine (the more purple, the younger it is).

The nose is actually fairly subtle - there is a nice bit of dark fruit and you pick up on a hint of pepper but it doesn't go too much further than that. However I do think that if left for a while and given a bit of time to open up, the nose would develop nicely (hey, I was thirsty alright).

In the gob (because saying "on the palate" is soooo over-used now) it is a really full flavoured wine.

The first thing that hits you in said gob, is the really nice hint of peppery spice, followed by really succulent black berry flavours. The tannin is firm but not too harsh. At 13.5% it packs enough of a punch without knocking your teeth out... just leaving you slightly bruised (that metaphor is bollocks but you see what I mean).

This is a youthful wine, with plenty of acidity, however I think it is best drunk relatively young, while it still has this nice freshness. Although being 100% Tempranillo, there is plenty of complexity in this wine for it to be interesting enough to make it totally okay to drink the whole bottle.

Quinta Milú 2012 Ribera del Duero is available from Bottle Apostle for just £10.80, which is great value for the amount of quality you get.