2018 Bodegas Pastor Diaz Castroviejo Reserva Especial Rioja DOCa

Most everyday Riojas are simple and forgettable. This one has a résumé — and the glass backs it up.

Bodegas Pastor Díaz sits in Aldeanueva de Ebro, in Rioja Oriental, at the eastern end of the appellation.

The Gonzalo Pastor family founded the bodega in 1994, but they had been growing grapes here for more than a century before that, quietly selecting the best plots one generation at a time.

Today they farm over 100 hectares, most of it on the foothills of Mount Yerga, some of the most sought-after vineyard land in Rioja.

They recently brought in José Hidalgo, one of Spain's most respected winemakers, to run the cellar.

The Castroviejo wines come off those slopes: deep, pebbly, chalk-and-clay soil that keeps yields low and concentration high. Fruit is picked at night so it arrives at the winery cold.

What lands in the glass is the polished, rounded style aged Rioja does so well — ripe fruit, integrated oak, a savory spiced edge from time in the cellar.

Pour it with lamb, a Sunday roast, game, or a plate of aged cheese. Soft tannins, long and balanced — the kind of red you open without ceremony and finish without regret.