It was just going to be Nigel and me. You know, two old chums meeting for a quiet Monday evening drink and a natter. When I pitched up, though, Pete and Nick were also there, and if anything triggers my alarm bells it’s the presence of these two smiling assassins.
I love all three boys dearly but, when together, they have form. They pick on me and egg me on. A magnum or so in and I’ve become a willing accomplice, we’ve overshot the runway and all is lost, with written apologies in the post.
If Mrs Ray had known who I was going to spend the evening with, she would never have let me leave the house. Or ever let me back in.
We met in Pintxito, Nigel’s brand-new, Basque-inspired wine bar in London’s Covent Garden Market (he also co-owns Camino, that small collection of warm and welcoming Spanish restaurants) and enjoyed a little verbal fencing over a bottle or so of Txakoli and Gran Reserva Rioja alongside tasty pintxos.
In fact, we had the most civilised of evenings and, before I knew it, I was on the 22.29 back to Skid Row-on-Sea, unscathed and full of a renewed love for Spain and its comida y vino extremadamente sabrosos.
If you discount cava – which I’ve never managed to embrace – Rioja is the most celebrated of Spanish wines. And if you like Rioja, you’ll love these bottles below.
Bodegas Urbina, in the north-west of Rioja Alta, has been owned by the Urbina family ever since foundation in 1870. The family is now represented by fourth generation Angel, Pedro and Santiago.
They make exemplary wines, highly regarded by critics, connoisseurs and, well, drinkers alike. They harvest their single estate, low yielding bush vines by hand and ferment with native yeasts; they use organic fertilisers and no pesticides or weed killers. The purity of the fruit is everything.
Rioja is the most celebrated of Spanish wines. And if you love Rioja, you’ll love these
And, as with all other Rioja producers, they only release their wines when ready to drink, proving that Riojanos love us, taking on all the cost and trouble of ageing their wines themselves unlike, say, the Bordelais.
In fact, I thought the 2016 Bodegas Urbina Rioja Viura Crianza (1) – a nine-year-old white Rioja – would have been aged too long, but how wrong could I be? It’s in cracking form. Made entirely from the slow-fermented, free-run juice of old vine Viura (aka Macabeo), it spent six months in new French and American oak and is weighty and expressive. With dried tropical fruit, honeysuckle and nuts, plus a silky, creamy texture and hints of quince, it’s deliciously complex. £15.75 down from £16.95.
The 2006 Bodegas Urbina Rioja Reserva Especial (2) got 94/100 from both Tim Atkin MW and Sarah Jane Evans MW and is indeed a cracker, produced from the estate’s oldest plots. A blend of Tempranillo and dashes of Mazuelo and Graciano, it’s aged in both oak and steel and is full of ripe, dark fruit, spice and touches of mushroomy forest floor. £22.50 down from £24.95.
The 2004 Bodegas Urbina Rioja Gran Reserva Especial (3), a 95-pointer at a Decanter retrospective tasting, is a similar blend, albeit with a touch more Graciano and Mazuelo, that spent 30 months in barrel and 48 in bottle. It’s classic Rioja of real style with ripe plum and cherry fruit, spice, leather, dried figs and sweet vanilla. £27.50 down from £28.95.
Finally, a limited-edition library release of the 2001 Bodegas Urbina Rioja Gran Reserva Especial (4), a gorgeous wine of serious quality named by Tim Atkin as ‘Wine of the Year 2025’ in the Gran Reserva category in his 2025 Rioja Special Report. A 100 per cent Tempranillo that spent 30 months in French and American oak and five years in bottle, it’s wonderfully on song, with the softest of tannins, sweet, ripe cherries and plums, savoury truffle and teasing spice on the finish. It’s bottles like this that make me and those naughty boys drink so much. (Presented in a wooden case of six bottles, complete with ‘butler’s friend’ opener.) £32.50 down from £35.95.
The mixed case has three bottles of each wine and delivery, as ever, is free.
Order online today or download an order form.
Oh, by the way, I’ll be leading a Spectator tour to Rioja from 14 to 18 April 2026. Do come!
To find out more about our Winemaker Lunches, Masterclasses and Wine Tours, visit spectator.co.uk/tastings
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