2016 Bodegas Faustino Crianza Rioja DOC 750 ml

$15 wines can be delicious, but it’s rare to come across one that’s truly memorable—the kind that lives rent-free in our heads for a while after opening. Yet that’s exactly the haunting quality that the graceful 2016 Faustino Crianza, one of Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Values from 2019, achieves at an incredible bargain.  

Seductive and powerful, the bramble, dried lilac, and Szechuan peppercorn aromatics here lingered with us even after the tasting had finished. Lively and electrifying on the palate, full of tension, acidity, and mineral structure, this standout Tempranillo is far better than it has any right to be at this price.

Wine Enthusiast also hung a Best Buy recommendation on this Spanish bombshell, calling it an exemplar of an “excellent vintage,” while Vinous hailed it as “bright and energetic” with a “lingering florality.”

You’ll be hard-pressed to find another bottle that boasts that kind of critical attention with this kind of price. An ideal way to flesh out the cellar at a pain-free price, the 2016 Faustino Crianza is a brilliant score, eminently quaffable while leaving an elegant, mineral-tinged impression.

Founded in 1861, Faustino is considered one of the First Families of Rioja, and is currently operated by the sixth-generation Martinez daughters. With an eye-popping nine million bottles resting in their cellar, encompassing Spain’s largest collection of library Gran Reserva Riojas dating back to 1955, the wines are famed for their ageability. We’ve had the pleasure of sampling the cinnamon-dusted 1964 Faustino I Gran Reserva—considered the greatest Rioja vintage of the 20th century—and the mellow, rose-petal beauty of it was simply stunning.

All that pedigree works to the advantage of more affordable entry-level releases like the 2016 Crianza, which is superbly youthful and energetic now, but will continue to flourish in the bottle for another decade. Faustino is the largest vineyard landowner in Rioja with over 1,300 acres set on the barren, high-altitude plateau of the Rioja Alavesa. That gives them a huge advantage on bottlings across the range, as they’re able to pick from across a spectrum of microclimates and terroirs while still using only estate-grown grapes.

For this bottling, the high-elevation freshness, the elegance of the clay soils, and the bright acidity fixed in place by the cold Spanish nights were all enhanced by an outstanding 2016 vintage. The evenly paced, drama-free growing season framed Faustino’s crop with the classical proportions and balance that are immediately evident in every sip of this Best Buy bottling. For the price, you can’t buy too much.