Press ·
Decanter: 95 points for Unanimous Santa Cruz 2022
The British magazine opens its selection of the 40 top Ribera del Duero wines with our Albillo Mayor.
In its October 2026 issue, Decanter publishes its annual report on the latest releases from Ribera del Duero. Ines Salpico, the magazine’s Regional Editor for Spain, Portugal and South America, and sommelier María José Huertas blind tasted 342 wines released between July 2025 and July 2026, and picked 40.
Unanimous Santa Cruz 2022 is the first wine on that list, in the white category, with 95 points. Its bottle also opens the photographs of the selection.
«Wow – such an expressive, poised wine with a flinty, ‘Burgundian’ edge. Toasted almond and pear peel, yellow apple and crunchy quince mingle on the palate. The deft deployment of wood gives the Albillo fruit a beautiful frame of smoke and wild flowers, finishing on lingering notes of brioche and almond croissant.»
- Score
- 95 / 100
- Drink
- 2026–2036
- Alcohol
- 13%
- Category
- White
The report also devotes a section to Ribera’s whites, which last year it already called “a hidden gem that deserves more attention”, and points the way: “Oaked, old-vine Albillos stand out”.
That is exactly what we are after with Santa Cruz: Albillo Mayor from old bush vines in Fuentecén, recovered plot by plot, and an ageing that frames the fruit without masking it.
Source: Decanter, October 2026, “Ribera del Duero latest releases”, pp. 46–52. Report by Ines Salpico; wine selections by María José Huertas and Ines Salpico.