Finca La Emperatriz Crianza 2008
-
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
From 15- to 45-year-old vines, the 2008 Finca La Emperatriz Crianza has a lifted, expressive bouquet of black plum, cassis, orange sorbet and small red cherries that demonstrate good intensity. The palate is very well-balanced, with firm tannins that exert a gentle but insistent grip. It builds nicely with crisp blackberry and raspberry intermixed with white pepper and sea salt. This segues into a solid, tannic finish that suggests this "masculine" Crianza would benefit another 12 months in bottle. This is very well-made. Drink 2013-2018.
Other Vintages
2011-
Robert
Parker
The project is today managed by brothers Eduardo and Victor Hernáiz, although the origins of the estate go way back to the 19th century. At that time, under the ownership of Eugenia de Montijo, the Empress of France, the estate was already producing excellent wines.
Hailed as the star red variety in Spain’s most celebrated wine region, Tempranillo from Rioja, or simply labeled, “Rioja,” produces elegant wines with complex notes of red and black fruit, crushed rock, leather, toast and tobacco, whose best examples are fully capable of decades of improvement in the cellar.
Rioja wines are typically a blend of fruit from its three sub-regions: Rioja Alta, Rioja Alavesa and Rioja Oriental, although specific sub-region (zonas), village (municipios) and vineyard (viñedo singular) wines can now be labeled. Rioja Alta and Alavesa, at the highest elevations, are considered to be the source of the brightest, most elegant fruit, while grapes from the warmer and drier, Rioja Oriental, produce wines with deep color, great body and richness.