5 vinos de Primeras Marcas, entre los mejores del mundo del 2021 según Wine Spectator

Every year-end, Wine Spectator's list of the 100 best wines sets the pace for the industry. In the 2021 edition, five labels distributed in Spain by Primeras Marcas made it among the chosen ones, with two of them fighting for the very top.

What the Wine Spectator list is

Each December the American magazine publishes its ranking of the hundred wines of the year. It is not merely a ranking of scores: it weighs the tasting note against factors such as price, availability and that hard-to-measure quality the magazine calls excitement, the interest a bottle stirs. That is why appearing on it carries so much commercial weight: it means a wine not only scores high but also tells a story worth telling.

Two wines near the top of the table

The two names that resonated most that year were a Napa Valley red made from Bordeaux grapes and a Pauillac classic, both from the 2018 vintage. One brushed 97 points and the other reached 98, figures that on the magazine's scale place them among the best that was tasted. That they came from a great Bordeaux vintage was no accident: 2018 left wines of firm structure and ripe fruit on both sides of the Atlantic.

The role of an importer

Behind these wines reaching Spanish wine lists and shops lies a rarely seen job: that of the importer. Selecting wineries, negotiating allocations, keeping the cold chain under control and telling each label's story well is what allows a wine celebrated abroad not to remain out of our reach. When five wines from a single catalogue enter a list like this, it usually signals a sharp buying criterion rather than luck.

How to read these rankings without obsessing

A high score is a clue, not a verdict. It helps you get your bearings, especially with wines we cannot taste before buying, but it is best taken with perspective:

• The vintage rules. The same wine changes a great deal from one year to the next depending on the weather.
• The moment of drinking matters. Many of these reds call for cellaring; opening them young wastes them.
• Taste is yours. A 98 does not guarantee it will move you.

From the ranking to the glass

What is interesting about these lists is that they serve as a compass for discovering styles and regions you may not have known. If your curiosity is piqued to taste great labels without leaving home, the best first step is to visit a winery and learn to read a label with a discerning eye. You can start by exploring the wineries that can be visited and put together your own tasting by comparing vintages and styles. In the end, no number replaces what happens when you uncork the bottle.