Lopez de Heredia Cubillo 2016

2016 Cubillo nyr
La Rioja, Spain

While not rated yet, if you recall 2016 is a banner vintage in most of the main Southern European wine regions!  In Spain and Italy (Barolo, Barbaresco, Brunello) they were particularly and universally excellent, Bordeaux and Chateauneuf du Pape as well!  In each of those regions there are characteristic in the wines that align with the style of wine from Rioja: fuller bodied, structured, tannic, fresh (in 2016), long living wines. 
When impeccably balanced from a perfect vintage like 2016, they make for epic wines that can be considered candidates for the best bottling ever of a certain wine.

This is a no brainer on 6, but a case is a much better idea so you can get into some of them now.  I mean, for $25, this wine is still underpriced.  $40-50 to me is the real value here, if not more when you compare to other wines from the region that carry higher price tags.  I am a case automatic here personally on this one!

Past scores:
2014: 92WA
2013: 92+WA
2011: 92WA
2010: 93WA
2009: 92WA

2015 Score - 2016 Not Yet Rated
Wine Advocate 93 pts
The 2014 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza is a textbook vintage with some aromatic development, notes of fresh blood and some grainy tannins, perhaps less polished than previous vintages, lively and concentrated, a bit harsh. 2014 was a very rainy vintage. This is usually a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo matured in well-seasoned, neutral American oak barrels for three years.
Luis Guttierez - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

2010 Score - 2016 Not Yet Rated
Wine Advocate 93 pts
The 2010 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza is superb and shows great depth and nuance, with great freshness, and the red cherries are complemented by notes of blood oranges, nutmeg and other spices. It has a soft and harmonious palate, with great balance and very good freshness. 90,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in April 2017.
Luis Guttierez - Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Tempranillo 65%, Garnacho 25%, Graciano & Mazuelo 10% 

This is one of the best values going in the wine world.  If you want to think about your wine, you will appreciate this.  If you don't want to think about your wine, you will savor its pure deliciousness.  It shows the youngest of their red wines with a little more fruit and drinks, so, so well.  A superb value, in more expensive restaurants I tend to look for a wine like this that delivers well over its price.

From the vineyard called Viña Cubillas, which was purchased by the founder in the late 1800s.  Vina Cubillas has an altitude of 410 m, and the vines have an average age of 40 years. The soil is a mixture of clay and limestone. Viña Cubillas covers 24 ha, of which 16 ha are under Tempranillo, 4 ha Garnacha, 2 ha Mazuelo and 2 ha Graciano.  With parcels called "La Encina" and "La Monja", Viña Cubillas is a vineyard that produces exceptional wines sold as Crianza, but could easily qualify for Gran Reserva level wines due to the exceptional combination of soil, aspect, and vines.