INSIDER'S PICK: 2010 BODEGAS IZADI RIOJA RESERVA (Wine Advocate 92points) $19.99

If the name and label look slightly familiar, it's because we have used their Rioja Bianco in the past for the Select Six and Insider's Pick. It is a good sign of quality within a producer when we pick from them across the board instead of just sniping single bottlings. This is a moderately large producer for Rioja, but included in their holdings is well over 100 acres of vines pushing above the 70 year old mark, allowing them plenty of  high quality raw materials. Add to that the exceptionally high quality overall for the 2010 vintage in Rioja, and you have the makings of an epic value like this one.
A bit of a modern style at first, with fairly dark fruit and cassis aromas and some noticable sweet American oak on the nose, a little bit of time open quickly gets to some more savory background earth and dried spice tones that provide a constantly evolving nose that brings you back for hours. On the palate the texture is deep with a bit of grit from both the tannins and the unfiltered character, which meshes right in with the dark intensive black fruits, touches of coffee, and a bit of grapeskin and tannin on the finish. This delivers a lot of bang for your buck and is in a nice place to ejnjoy now, but also has the stuff to hide for another 4-6 years easily to get more refinement out of it.