The flagship red 2016 Beryna is now a blend of Monastrell with 30% Garnacha, a Mediterranean blend of older and younger vines and different soils that fermented separately in stainless steel with natural yeasts and aged in barrique for ten months, during which time it was racked four times, blended in the third racking. This is the more mainstream of the reds, with some Monastrell rusticity, hint of tree bark and esparto grass and also an herbal twist. The palate is medium-bodied, with very tasty flavor and fine-grained tannins. It's a serious, somehow austere Mediterranean red. 50,000 bottles were filled in September 2017.

The 2013 Beryna is a blend of Monastrell and Garnacha that varies slightly each vintage, fermented separately in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured in French barriques for 14 months. It's a classical southeastern blend with good acidity and ripeness, with aromas of black fruit without excess, with the character of the Monastrell providing the identity and the Garnacha adding freshness. The palate is where you see that freshness, and I guess the conditions of the vintage also helped with some meatiness and juicy fruit. It shows a little austere, serious, a wine that is going to be long-lived in the bottle. This seems to be turning into a serious Mediterranean blend. 40,000 bottles produced. I also tasted 2011 to follow up on its evolution. It has digested the oak and was showing much better than when I first tasted it and my score and drinking window may have proven below what the wine is showing today.

This solid, rustic-style red has concentration, showing plum, licorice, tobacco and loamy flavors over firm, rather grippy tannins, with balsamic acidity. Drink now through 2020. 4,200 cases made, 1,180 cases imported.??–TM??Region: Spain / Alicante Select to Add

It's funny how wines come in and out of fashion, and sometimes when they are in their finest vintage nobody talks about them. This might be the case for the 2012 Beryna, a mainly Monastrell wine with some Garnacha. This modern, well-crafted wine is quite dark-colored and shows balsamic and spicy aromas plus hints of tree bark and licorice. This is an easy-to-drink wine that will keep for 5-8 years and will be approachable throughout its life offering concentration and tannic structure but keeping very good freshness. This is a very good Mediterranean blend at a very attractive price; the finest vintage I can remember. 50,000 bottles were produced.

The 2011 Beryna is 80% Monastrell with 20% Garnacha fermented separately in stainless steel tanks, aged for 14 months in French oak barrels and bottled in June 2013. The robe is a dark cherry color and the nose is very lactic, marked by the aromas of the French oak, sweet spices, cinnamon, blackberries and damsons. The light- to medium-bodied palate is fluid and rich, but the oak is still in the foreground and will require a few months to integrate better. An easy to drink, intelligent wine, representative of its origin and grapes that would please many consumers at a very good price point. 50,000 bottles produced. Drink 2014-2016. Bernabe Navarro is one of the most active, creative and experimental wineries in the Alicante region. It was created in 1999 by husband and wife Rafael Bernabe and Olga Navarro. They started with 40 hectares and a small winery on their property, Casa Balaguer in Villena, and own a further 30 hectares of vineyards in Finca Usaldon, all of them dry-farmed. They also have control over a further 3 hectares of white Merseguera and Moscatel de Alejandria in a traditional sub-zone outside the Alicante appellation, the natural park of La Mata in Torrevieja, a coastal, tourist zone 45 kilometers south of Alicante city. Rafael Bernabe, who left a life in business to go back to his passion and family roots in nature and agriculture, is merging his two wineries and projects into one, with the wines from Vinedos Culturales being more in the natural vein (no added sulfites, fermentation in amphora). Many different wines are produced in small quantities, trying to show the diversity of their terroir, with some unusual grapes, combining tradition with innovation, and the more traditional range of Bernabe Navarro, Beryna, Casa Balaguer, and a great pure Monastrell called Curro. They produce an average of 100,000 bottles per year, using natural yeast, carrying out gentle vinification and aging, intervening as little as possible with minimal or no addition of SO2. Various American importers, including Jose Pastor Selections; www.josepastorselections.com; Elite Wines; www.elitewines.net; and American Northwest; www.anwdistributors.com