Emilio Moro Malleolus, Ribera del Duero

Malleolus is the wine that redefined Bodegas Emilio Moro. Launched in 1998, it broke deliberately with Spain's traditional Crianza and Reserva system - which grades a wine by time in barrel - in favour of letting each vintage show what it actually is. It takes its name from the Latin for majuelo, the local word for a vineyard plot. The fruit is Tinto Fino, the Ribera del Duero strain of Tempranillo, drawn from the estate's older vines high on the region's stony moorland - shallow, calcareous soils studded with rock that give low yields and a tense balance of ripeness and freshness. After skin maceration, the wine goes through malolactic fermentation in tank and is then aged in French oak, mostly larger 500-litre barrels, which lend structure and breadth without dominating the fruit. The result is a deep, structured Ribera red - ripe black fruit, cedar and tobacco, clove and a savoury, mineral edge - powerful on the palate but carried with real balance and a silky finish. Serve at 16-18°C, ideally decanted.