The prestigious wine magazine Wine Spectator has placed a Spanish wine in its Top 10 Values ??of 2023, which includes the best global products taking into account quality-price. This is the Tarima Hill 2020 from Alicante from Bodegas Volver, which costs 15.99 euros. It has placed itself at number eight on the list, being the only Spanish wine in the top ten in the world.
Wines from California, New Zealand, Australia, Oregon, Italy, France and Argentina have also been selected in this list. In fact, this red wine from the DO Alicante has been the most awarded by the American magazine since 2010. In the 2017 list of the World Top 100 by Wine Spectator, this wine was already ranked number 17. The owner of this winery, the Rafa Cañizares, from La Mancha, states that “we love being the ambassadors of Alicante wine in the world.”
Cañizares has told La Vanguardia’s Comer channel that he is “very happy” for a recognition that “is the accumulation of many years of work in the North American market.” He adds that “it is not the result of playing the flute and having the Virgin appear.” Wine Spectator has awarded 91 points to the Tarima Hill 2020. It states that this wine is made from 100% Monastrell, “a grape variety that thrives in this dry and warm inland area, but the elevation of the vineyards preserves the balance of acidity and structure.”
Tarima Hill, which means the hill vineyards in English, is the most popular wine from Bodegas Volver from the municipality of Pinoso (Alicante). Its success has surprised locals and strangers. It is made with 100% Monastrell grapes from multiple old vineyards located in areas of the middle Vinalopó: Pinoso, Salinas, El Maña and Monóvar, planted in glass between 1935 and 1970 between 650 and 750 meters above sea level. Its soils are arid and shallow. They are poor in organic matter and full of rocks from limestone.
In recent years its vineyards have suffered from drought and unrepentant heat. Despite this, the winemaker and owner of the winery, Rafael Cañizares, from Cuenca living in Alicante, affirms that this wine is “Mediterranean freshness.” He created it in 2011 thinking exclusively of the North American customer, looking for “concentration and body in an easy-to-drink red.” In fact, it exports 80% of its production and its main foreign market is the United States, followed by Germany and Switzerland.
However, he soon saw how this Monastrell was also very popular in Alicante, where many initially believed, because of its name, that it was Australian and not from the Alicante DOP. It was released only in the American market with about 20,000 bottles. They currently produce about 150,000 bottles annually in this winery founded in 2004.
Every year since 1988, Wine Spectator publishes its Top 100, where its editors select the most interesting wines from the thousands they taste during the course of the year. These wines are very diverse. They range from emerging labels and regions to traditional estates exploring new directions, and all generate the excitement they call the “X factor.” Additionally, their selection also prioritizes quality (based on score), value (based on price), and availability (based on the number of boxes made or imported into the United States). These criteria are applied to wines that earn an outstanding rating (90 points or higher on Wine Spectator’s 100-point scale) each year to determine their Top 100.
