Finca La Emperatriz Crianza 2011
-
Robert
Parker
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Blend: Tempranillo 95%, Garnacha 3% and Viura 2%.
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Finca la Emperatriz Crianza has a forward personality, quite aromatic and open, with showy notes of smoky bacon that transported me to the Northern Rhône for a minute. It is, of course, mostly Tempranillo with 3% Garnacha and 2% white Viura from different plots in the estate fermented in stainless steel with indigenous yeasts and matured for 14 months in American (80%) and French oak barrels. The oak is really well integrated, with spices but none of the overwhelming coconut aromas you find in many wines. The palate is serious, well-built and shows good density, structure and fine tannins. There are good, persistent flavors combining power and finesse, which is remarkable for a year like 2011. It grows in the glass, showing that it is at a nice place in the bottle evolution. A truly impressive Crianza, growing by the vintage, and keeping a very sensible price tag. This should be readily available as 172,800 bottles were produced. Very good value for the quality.
Other Vintages
2008-
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.