Howard Vineyard Carlos Serres Best Wines Under $50

Carlos Serres is a bit of an OG - one of the few Rioja producers with a century of winemaking behind them. Carlos was actually named Charles, a French Winemaker who left Bordeaux, fed up with dealing with phylloxera riddled vineyards, landing in Spain. He founded the first winery in Rioja with export certification and applied French winemaking techniques to Rioja fruit. Pretty soon, there was a demand for Rioja in the rest of Europe and the US.

Carlos Serres Crianza is 100% Tempranillo and spends 14 months in a combo of French and American oak. Being 'Crianza', the wine has spent a year in barrel, and another on bottle prior to release. Typically aged in older oak, Crianza can have quite assertive tannins and fruit which is intense whilst retaining great freshness. This is a particularly good example, packed with red fruits, cherries, spice, oak and nervy acidity.

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Lifted citrus, white peach and crème brûlée on the nose lead through to green apple and grapefruit spread across the palate, only interrupted momentarily with the melting toasty mouthfeel. Learn More

Super expressive strawberries, raspberries and cherry morph into citrus and stonefruit. The palate is creamy, the bead fine. To summarise, ‘Yum’! The Pinot Noir components comprise the superb and low yielding Burgundian clones of 777, 114 and 115. Both the Pinot and Chardy are planted at 470m above sea level. Learn More