Winemaker Notes
Clean and bright, with an elegant ruby color, medium-high intensity and garnet rim. The nose is intense and fragrant and reveals a complex array of balsam notes, brioche, toasted bread, vanilla, toffee and cinnamon as well as fine aromas of black plums, wild strawberries, ripe blackcurrants and red berries, creating a fruity and balsamic bouquet. On the palate, the wine is well structured and balanced, with a pleasant freshness and smooth, polished tannins, thanks to its careful ageing in oak barrels. The finish is fresh and delicate, with a lingering aftertaste.
Blend: 95% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Deep, savory nose of vanilla, mussels, graphite, iron and black pepper. Vibrant and juicy, with a medium to full body and fine-grained tannins. Lots of energy, with a long, long finish. 95% tempranillo and 5% graciano. Still quite young. Drink or hold.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
In previous vintages of the 2017 Vina Arana Gran Reserva, the producer used to blend Tempranillo with 5% Mazuelo. Now it’s 5% Graciano with 95% Tempranillo, aged three years in older American oak. The process delivers refined tannins and a classic structure of integrated fruit, acidity, and medium-bodied power with a lasting, gravelly mineral profile. Age 15-20 years.
-
Vinous
The 2017 Gran Reserva Viña Arana is 95% Tempranillo and 5% Graciano from Rioja Alta. It presents a sun-kissed profile, with moderately intense red fruit and balsamic wood aromas complemented by toffee, mild mushroom and background oak before cherry emerges later. Dry and taut with a fine-grained texture, it delivers persistent flavor with a touch of tannic grip reflecting the vintage's short cycle following a spring frost.
-
Decanter
Fabulously classic gran reserva with coconut and vanilla sweet oak, match by intense red berry fruits. The tannins are soft and perfectly integrated, and the palate is fresh and juicy. A classic.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2017 Viña Arana Gran Reserva is their more classical bottling, produced with 95% Tempranillo and 5% Graciano, fermented in stainless steel for 16 days and matured in American oak barrels for three years, racked every six months, the two varieties separately and blended before bottling. It has contained ripeness and 14% alcohol, keeping good freshness and acidity in a challenging year. The oak is neatly integrated, and the wine is harmonious and serious, a triumph over the adverse conditions of the year, the year of the big frost. They didn't produce Viña Alberdi or GR 890 that year, and part of the 890 grapes are here. It's polished and elegant, quite gentle and easy to understand for a Gran Reserva.
Always evolving quality, elegance, innovation, evolution... They are the pillars on which the five founding families erected our winery in 1890 and built a way of living, feeling and producing wines of the highest quality that continue to evolve subtly, perfectly adapting to new tastes. This is how the permanent pursuit of excellence started; a pursuit that continues into the 21st century with identical enthusiasm. We draw the best from our winemaking tradition and wisdom —our own cooperage, manual racking, long ageing periods, etc.— and combine it with the most modern winemaking technology. Today, our wines are an international exemplar of the great wines of Rioja and our brands are present in the best restaurants across all continents.
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.