Everything in Ribera del Duero is intense. The climate is extreme, with very cold winters and hot summers, and some of the highest altitudes in the northern hemisphere! ‘This exceptional climate gives Ribera’s wines a refreshing, mouthwatering acidity that provides the perfect balance to the ripe summer fruit,’ says Decanter.

Bodegas Áster is named after a Spanish flower that blooms at harvest. In 1991, after much research, legendary La Rioja Alta S.A. planted 76 hectares in Ribera del Duero at an altitude of 780m-830m. They didn’t make wine from these Tempranillo vines until 10 years later – once they understood the land and farming and the vines were mature enough to produce top-notch wines. The plot is in Anguix near Burgos, which Tim Atkin MW describes as ‘the home of most of the best wines’ in the region.

For more from Áster, consider their El Espino 2020 and reimagined 97-pointer, Finca El Otero 2019, which Atkin calls ‘the best release yet … among the region's very best wines’.

*Tempranillo is known as Tinto del Pais or Tinto Fino in Ribera del Duero, meaning ‘red of the land’.