Emina Atio
Price: £30
Stockist: Berkmann Wines

They’re not absolutely sure whether it really is ‘Atio’ as the ‘A’ doesn’t have a crossbar and the ‘t’ could quite possibly be an ‘l’, but the design of the label is taken from an ornamental device, believed to be mediæval in origin, which was discovered during the building of the new Emina bodega in Ribera del Duero in 1995 – an offshoot of the long-established Bodegas Matarromera.

Matarromera owns several wineries in Castilla y León (as well as the only distillery) but the Emina project was designed from the start to make high-level wines for the premium end of the market. There are three: Emina, Emina Prestigio and Emina Atio, which is its ‘flagship’ wine, made from grapes of 25-30-year old Tempranillo vines and aged in new French oak for 16 months: the 2003 was the first vintage and the wine will only be made in the best years.

Atio is in the tradition of ‘blockbusting’ reds from Ribera del Duero and yet it has a real delicacy provided by all that time in Alliers oak: fresh and robust with high fruit and an excellent finish. Indeed, it’s almost a sin to drink it this young and if you have steely willpower it should continue to improve in the bottle for many years. On the other hand, what could be better than the ripe grape of Ribera del Duero with the Sunday roast in the depths of an English winter?