First time on the Place, from Vinedos de Matallana, care of the iconic winemaking partnership between Telmo Rodriguez and Pablo Eguzkiza, produced with fruit from plots across Burgos. The pair's signature mix of intensity and concentration playing against delicacy and reserved power is fully on display, a combination that should be impossible to achieve in the heat of Ribera del Duero. It's earthy, in the sense that it feels hewn from rocks that give a feeling of slate, granite, steely tannic hold, fine but intense, all of which melts into fragrant gunsmoke, oyster shell, lemon rind, raspberry, pomegranate and red cherry fruits. The flavours are toasted and yet cooling, a wine of contrasts and texture, and utterly compelling. Powerful yet the barest lightness of being. Begs you to find out more. Lucky us that these wines are going through the Place, bringing them to wider attention.

A brand new wine to the Place de Bordeaux this year and the first wine from Ribera del Duero via a collaboration between Telmo Rodriguez and Pablo Eguzkia (also of Yjar on the Place). A field blend of massal-selection grapes - Tinto Fino, Navarro, Valenciano, Albillo 'and others' are chosen from 11 vineyards across five villages with different soils and landscapes totalling 21.5 hectares. This is softly floral on the nose with bright red berry notes. Taught and direct, this doesn't deviate too much from the centre of the palate - the spiced, tobacco-laced black fruit and clear mineral wet stone, graphite and pencil lead all in one line from start to finish, tangy and a little constricted. Feels well worked no doubt, smooth and defined, just not so expansive and wide at this point. Coiled and knitted with tons of liquorice and savouriness on the finish. A real balancing act of complexity and flavour layering with underlying power and promise of great things to come. Ageing 14 months in French oak barrels. Interestingly, the label features a series of redacted, blacked-out lines covering vineyard names as regulations prevent the naming of such.

This could easily become something of a cult wine. A new release on la place – the first from Ribera Del Duero and unlikely to be the last – from the extremely talented Telmo Rodriguez (here working with Pablo Eguzkiza). Lovely grippy chalky tannins. Dried raisins. Figs. Dark berry fruit too and a little hint of raspberry puree. This will need time for the tannins to soften, but it has impressive aging potential.

There is a change in the 2020 Matallana, as they have included Jean-Guillaume Prats (ex-Cos d'Estournel, ex-Lafite...) in the Ribera del Duero project, and the wine is going to be sold for the first time with this vintage through the négociant system of La Place de Bordeaux. The grapes from the five villages (mentioned but then crossed out on the label) were picked between the sixth and 18th of October and fermented with indigenous yeasts in stainless steel and oak vats. The wine matured in French oak barrels for 14 months. This is a little riper than the 2019 I tasted next to it, despite both being 14.5% alcohol (at least on the label). It follows the path of seriousness and austerity of the last few vintages and has a very calcareous mouthfeel with chalky tannins that lift up the finish. 19,624 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2022.

Very subtle yet intense nose. Iron, nutmeg, white pepper, wild berries, savory grilled herbs and some oranges. Fresh, silky tannins seep through the berries and white pepper flavors. Extremely long and mouthwatering finish that goes on and on. Drink or hold.

The 2019 Dolio is a cuvée of Mencía, Brancellao (quite a lot here), Sousón, Caíño and Garnacha Tintorera created as a blend with the help of Telmo Rodríguez and Pablo Eguzkiza in this first vintage, but they should go much further in future years. They selected north- and west-facing vineyards to achieve more freshness in the wine, trying to reflect the huge potential of Ribeira Sacra. The full clusters were foot trodden and fermented in a troncoconic oak vat with indigenous yeasts and matured in 225-liter barrels and 2,000-liter foudres for 24 months. But the wine has no influence from the wood and is floral and perfumed. It has good grip, fine tannins, moderate ripeness and 14% alcohol, and it's very clean and balanced, with elegance and precision. The best wine from Algueira in recent times. 6,665 bottles were filled in May 2023.

From a little-known corner of Galicia, a region of Spain better known for its white wines, this has a lightness of touch, a sense of building energy through the palate, fragrant and juicy with sun-sweetened raspberry, sage and crushed rocks. Balanced, dry but juicy, this is almost impossible to spit out while tasting, delicate yet riveting. First time on the Place from Bodega Adega Algueira, and this is one to look out for. Winemaker Fernando Gonzalez, 3.7ha estate.

Spicy, floral, fresh – gladioli and patchouli, peony – with a pleasing crushed rock minerality accompanying the figs and dried nuts. There’s a lot of tannin present and the granularity of those tannins is evident. But that gives a good impression of structure, helping to maintain the compact and yet quite fluid profile of the wine over the palate. Just a little reductive at first and a touch dry on the finish. Interesting, distinct and authentic this will find plenty of admirers.

Brand new to the Place de Bordeaux, this is a blend of mostly indigenous varieties; 66% Mencia, 20% Brancellao, 6% Sousón, 4% Caiño and 4% Garnacha Tintorera planted in 3.7 hectares on the steep hills of Doade and Abelada in Galicia. Red berry accents on the nose, white chocolate and blood orange rind. Succulent and supple, this has a lovely bounce and sense of energy and fun to it. An element of sharpness and thrill with herbal-edged strawberries, chalky tannins and minerality too - wet stone nuance giving a metallic bite and long finish of tobacco, liquorice and sour cherries. Clean and clear, pure and precise - really easy drinking with bite and tang. This will find fans. Ageing 24 months in 335l French oak barriques and 2,000l French foudre. Director Fabio González Pérez and winemaker Fernando González Riveiro.

First time on the Place for this brilliant white from the Jerez region of Spain that uses a hint of the flor ageing technique but is bone dry. One of the most exciting wines on the Place this September, just arrestingly gorgeous, bursts through the palate, powerful twist of grilled salted almonds, with soaring adidity alongside juiced lime and lemon, crushed oyster shell, stretched out and thought-provoking. Tiny production from a 4ha site of 6,000 bottles. The latest wine from an increasingly productive partnership between Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Perez aimed at reviving the historic Sherry brand Manuel Antonio De la Riva. Get on board. Vino di Pasto, by the way, refers to unfortified wines - definitely something to remember and look out for when getting to grips with what is happening in Xeres today.

A new-wave Sherry by winemakers Ramiro Ibáñez and Willy Perez makes its debut on the Place de Bordeaux this September. 100% Palomino Fino grapes come from the 3.35-hectare San Cayetano vineyard in Macharnudo, planted in 1988. Beautifully fragranced nose, really perfumed and floral, scented with wildflowers. The wine sees one year of flor ageing but it's distinctly dry and round on the palate. There's a thickness to the texture, like thick honey but with salted, softly spiced edges and a core of bright lemon, peach and pear that gives tang, energy and excitement to the expression. Poised and refined, this has a lovely ease about it, beautifully textured and fully flavoured with mouthwatering acidity and bursts of bright citrus zest that counter the saltiness - close your eyes and you could be by the beach! Interesting and captivating, long and lingering, crying out to be eaten with nuts. Lovely sea salt spray, close your eyes and you're at the beach! limestone. Small production of only 6,000 bottles.

An exciting table wine from the region of Sherry with crunchy fruit and fine phenolics, honeysuckle, crushed stone, and flowers. Medium body. A chalky and salty undercurrent throughout. Highlights some of the exciting new things in Spain. Made from the palomino grape from a single parcel in the vineyard of Macharnudo in the white soils of the region. Drink or hold.

The 2022 Macharnudo San Cayetano Vino de Pasto is an unfortified Palomino from Sherry soils, from the famous Macharnudo vineyard in Jerez. The grapes were sun dried for a few hours, and the wine has less biological influence and more limestone influence despite having aged under a veil of flor yeasts; it comes from a plot of more concentration than the regular Macharnudo. 2022 was already an intense vintage; they wanted to avoid the wine being too heavy, and the wine shows superb. The La Escribana also comes from the Macharnudo vineyard, but this wine comes from a different plot in Macharnudo, an adjacent plot of very old vines (older than the others), looking for finesse and definition in the palate. It is more of a white wine than a flor wine. It was a dry year, and despite everything, the wine finished with a moderate 13.5% alcohol. The regular Macharnudo they had produced since 2016 will now include the name of the plot, El Notario, to distinguish it from these new bottlings. This 2022 has a powdery, chalky mouthfeel, very much the expression of the albariza calcareous soils. It doesn't have high acidity but has very good freshness and balance and a tasty minerality that makes you salivate; it's super tasty. This should bloom with a couple of years in bottle. There are some 6,000 bottles. It was bottled in July 2023. This is not in the Jerez/Sherry appellation, but there's an initiative to create a separate appellation of origin for these unfortified white wines.