Hi Everyone,

When Wine Spectator builds their Top 100 list each year, the inclusion of a few “not-so-commercial” selections has to be intentional. While most folks will focus on the #1 wine and the big names, we prefer to celebrate the “biggest misfit,” the most unlikely wine on a list of otherwise relatively easy to find, deliciously commercial fine wine releases.

Let’s face it – Securing high praise when you are Chateau Giscours isn’t that difficult, but when you are Montenidoli Vernaccia (the #85 winner in 2024), ending up on such a list is a monumental achievement. The folks at Montenidoli don’t spend marketing dollars with Wine Spectator – They probably don’t even have marketing department, marketing budget, or even a single employee focused on such a thing! In the the case of last year’s Top 100 list this resulted in an (embarassing for Wine Spectator!) blank square where the Montenidoli label image is supposed to sit in what is the biggest article of the year for the most widely circulated wine magazine in the world. How can a person who loves “real” wine not just LOVE seeing such a thing?

So, yes, this category of “biggest misfit” is without question the most fun part of the Top 100 exercise for all of us, and probably so for many of you as well, even if you hadn’t quite thought of it in this exact framework until today.

Two obvious nominees came up at the water cooler yesterday morning for the “Biggest Top 100 List Misfit of 2025.”

Selecting a winner between the two was tough.

Would the honor go to the Cru Muscadet from Clisson? Famillle Lieubeau’s 2022 Clisson would be an excellent choice for such an honor, and if you can find some of this available we recommend you hoard it, and that you do so quickly.

…or would most of us prefer anointing as this year’s “Biggest Misfit” the Garnacha-based blend from Catalayud with a name that takes ten seconds to say and a full line to type?

We went with the latter option.

As an added exclamation mark, a sample bottle of this obscure nectar, Bodega Raices Ibericas 2023 Garnacha/Syrah Catalayud ‘Las Pizarras Fabla 506’ (a real mouthful both verbally off of the tongue and as we would soon find also on the palate) was sitting on my fifteen foot high sample mountain. You can call it dumb luck?

Pop went the cork, and this one sentence wine, Bodega Raices Ibericas 2023 Garnacha/Syrah Catalayud ‘Las Pizarras Fabla 506’ (sorry we can’t help ourselves) came across in the glass as described in the Top 100 writeup:

“A fruit-forward red, loaded with ripe mulberry, boysenberry and plum fruit, with accompanying aromatics of rosemary, anise, graphite and peppercorn. Thick and creamy on the palate, with bright, blood orange–infused acidity and lightly chalky tannins firming the finish. Garnacha and Syrah. Drink now through 2030. 17,000 cases made, 3,000 cases imported. 90 points, #65 Top 100 Wines of 2025 (reviewed at $20).” – Alison Napjus, Wine Spectator 11/25

Oh, how we adore such “misfit toys.”

A deeply flavored blend of Grenache and Syrah, this might be a “misfit” on paper, but it will end up one of your most loved wines in 2026, and after this initial tranche it will end up in our permanent portfolio.

…should you go crazy on quantity today?

Yes – Since this is Oddlots, we are going out at $14.85 vs $20 you’ll soon see on the shelf.

First come first served!