Powerful yet elegant with spicy jammy fruit, hints of cranberries and a chunk of chocolate.

This is an elevated Prieto Picudo showing aromas of leather, exotic spice and blue fruit. … [the] palate brings roasted berry, spice and carob tones, with a menthol finish. Drink now through 2019.

Opaque ruby. Sexy, oak-spiced aromas of blackberry, blueberry, candied violet and vanilla, with a smoky overtone. Plush and expansive, offering sweet black and blue fruit flavors, along with suggestions of cola and vanilla. A spicy nuance adds lift and cut to the gently tannic finish, which leaves sweet dark berry notes behind. This wine drinks very easily now but has the weight and structure to age for at least the next few years.

Prieto Picudo is largely an unknown variety with a propensity for yielding weird wines. But this offering is made cleanly, and in an internationally familiar style. Aromas of licorice root, tobacco and cedar rest atop a base of black-fruit scents. The palate is juicy and tannic, while plum and berry flavors are surrounded by mocha, coffee and graphite notes. Drink now or hold through 2018.

Opaque purple in color, it displays an already complex aromatic array of underbrush, brier, Asian spices, lavender, and black currant. Dense, savory, and structured on the palate along with outstanding volume and balance, it will reward another 3-4 years of cellaring and drink well through 2021 if not longer.

Compact and condensed, with aromatic subtlety that suggests maturity. The palate is still fairly juicy and tight, with core intensity and surrounding flavors of black plum, berry and spice. Complex and tasty; drink now.

Opaque ruby. Expansive, perfumed bouquet evokes candied dark berries, cherry, spicecake and vanillin oak. Lush, creamy and seamless on the palate, displaying sweet blackberry and cherry-vanilla flavors and slow-building tannins. Showing its oak now (this gets the 200% new barrique treatment, starting in American casks and finishing in French ones), and finishing pliant, palate-coating and dominated by fruit. Very alluring and emphatically New World in style, with impressive depth.

This wine captures prieto picudo’s best aspects in its red fruit and penetrating acidity, as fresh and tart as a Morello cherry. It’s substantial and tannic, but the juiciness of the texture makes it approachable.

The 2005 Cumal Tinto offers up aromas of cedar, tobacco, mineral, and black cherry. Supple and ripe on the palate, this lengthy, flavorful effort can be enjoyed over the next four years.

Inky ruby. Powerful, deep, rich aromas of fresh blackberry and blackcurrant, perked up by oak spices and a floral note. Sweet, supple and spicy, the dark fruit flavors showing depth and lift. Vibrant and fresh on the finish, with lingering notes of cola, candied redcurrant and licorice. This is the highly promising first release of this bottling.

An ancient grape from León, has traditionally been destined for slightly sparkling rosés or vinos de aguja. That’s changing, as vintners have been reexamining it in the last couple of years. Dominio Dostares is leading the trend with this fresh, muscular Cumal, its tannins round and firm, its crisp acidity enhancing the juiciness of its generous dark cherry flavors.

Expressive and alluring, this red offers perfumed floral, blackberry, boysenberry and vanilla flavors, with loads of spice and mineral accents. Drink now through 2012.