Someone asked this after spying the word on two of our floor-stacked wines, La Mano Bierzo Roble and Valtravieso Ribera del Duero Roble.

Roble is a commonly-seen but non-standardised Spanish labelling term indicating that the wine has been aged in barrel for a period that is less than that required locally to gain the starter Crianza designation, which is used for the youngest official category of oak-matured wine.

In the Spanish ‘hierarchy’ of wines, the ageing / quality ladder runs: Joven / Tinto (young, little or no oak ageing) -> Roble (some oaking) -> (moving onto the three legally-controlled terms) Crianza -> Reserva -> Gran Reserva.

So basically, Roble wines have seen a little bit of oak (less than twelve months anyway) and should present as young and fruity but with a bit of added weight, spice and interest from the wood. Similar terms to Roble include Semi-Crianza (which is slightly misleading as it conflates a legally-controlled term with an unregulated one) and the self-explanatory x meses en barrica (x months in barrel).

With 90% of Spanish blancos and rosados being totally unoaked, the whole Crianza / barrel ageing system as outlined above refers overwhelmingly to red wines and, in particular, to those coming from blue-chip DOs Rioja and Ribera del Duero.

Bodegas Valtravieso enjoys a privileged location at 900 metres above sea level in the heart of Ribera del Duero, surrounded by its vineyards in the fashion of a French chateau.

The first vines were planted on the ‘La Revilla’ estate in 1985 but it was a full decade later before the first vintage of Valtravieso was produced, the 1994 Crianza, released to market in 1996.

The new venture continued with very small production until 2002 when the winery was acquired by the Gonzalez Beteré family who recognised the quality and potential of the estate. With a vision and philosophy of combining traditional production methods with modern technology, a new state-of-the-art winery was completed in 2007.

The Valtravieso estate now comprises 73 hectares of vineyards in four distinct sub-terrains, and produces four levels of wines under Ribera del Duero DO regulations, from Joven (young) to Reserva (aged for a minimum of 3 years, with at least 12 months in oak).

Best buy: Valtravieso Oak Aged 2010 (€13.99) From an acclaimed 2010 vintage, 6 months in oak has produced a powerful and fruit driven wine with a persistent, dark fruit & chocolate richness to the finish.

See the new range from Bodegas Valtravieso here.