The Tempranillo grape, used in this wine, grows best in Spain’s Rioja region and that’s where the 2011 Faustino VII was made.

Palm Bay is the sole agent for this wine coming into the US. Any wine shop can get. The 2012s are also on the market and both are deep cherry red with spicy Tempranillo notes. American oak enhances it and adds a milk-chocolate flavor to its berry fruit. I love Rioja. They make so many easy drinking wines that you could never get through all of them in a year. The expensive ones hide their natural terroir with French oak, but the grape does best in American oak. That’s 40 years of experience talking.

Bodegas Faustino is over 150 years old now and lies in the heard of Rioja, Spain near the village of Oyón. Costing about ten bucks, it’s an everyday wine and goes with all meat and cheese dishes. I had it with chicken and tomatoes. It scored a solid 15+ on the 20-point Dionysian scale and though they have a lot of older vintages available, I restock a case of this each year. You can quickly build a vertical collection of this wine and then serve them all at once. In vino veritas.