La Celestina is another label owned by Dominio de Atauta, crafted from sourced Tinto Fino (Tempranillo) grapes from the nearby sandy soils of Soria and clay soils of Burgos, both located in the cool eastern area of Ribero del Duero. The vine age across both areas ranges from 20-60 years old, and the wine is aged for 14 months in 20% new French oak barrels – an impressive elevage for a wine under $20. Compared to the Dominio de Atauta estate wines, the Celestina is more fruit-forward and easy-going – definitely read to drink now – yet has the power and well-built structure to pair with foods like grilled burgers, pasta with ragu, or barbecued ribs. This is a very impressive Ribero del Duero for a very reasonable price that delivers classic red fruit notes, savory undertones and elegant, fine-grained tannins wrapping everything together.

This very pretty release has low to moderate tannins and an upper palate clean spice and bright red fruits. Overall, it is a more mouth-filling style with generous red and black fruits, erring a bit more toward black fruits. The oak and tannin show up at the finish, which lingers for a surprisingly long time. This is certainly the least expensive Ribera Del Duero that I have seen in a very long time!

A really friendly and accessible nose, there's some creamy fruit on the very front, dark and a little seductive there's a nice depth to the nose that pulls me in a little bit further each time. Black cherry, Red Vines, blackberry, purple flowers, and some barrel spice. The palate has a really nice heft to it, allowing you to really dive down into the fruit, there's some oak around the edges of your palate the whole time, but blackberry, black cherry, ripe raspberry, and little touches of cranberry skin around the very outside bleeding into the oak. This doesn't taste like a $20 bottle of wine. It's better, in case that wasn't clear.