Juan Pablo de Simon is the great grandson of Valserrano’s founder Francisco Javier Solano y Eulate, who took advice from the French winemakers arriving in northern Spain in the 1880s, fleeing the onset of Phylloxera. He began aging wine in oak, and bottling in the Bordeaux style. In broad strokes, the wine remains largely unchanged from those early days, and Valserrano Rioja shows off that classic balance point between earth, oak, and fruit. In this impressively complex Crianza, the emphasis is on the fruit side of the spectrum: aromas of redcurrant, dried strawberry, tobacco, vanilla, leather, olive tapenade and barbecued meats all feature on the nose. The palate is neatly balanced, suave acidity meats silky tannins on a medium bodied palate of rich stewed red berries rosemary, sage, and dried clay. We recommend this one for the barbecue in July, but any sort of hearty stew or bean casserole will also serve in cooler weather.