Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This has a nose of plums and dried cherries with a herbal touch. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, fluid with precise, round tannins. This is a blend of tempranillo of Sajazarra with garnacha from Cárdenas and a touch of white grapes.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
They went for a more approachable and juicier red in 2023, and the 2023 Tinto was produced with less Tempranillo (65%) and more Garnacha and white grapes, 25% and 10%, respectively. It has less alcohol than the 2022, still 14.1%, keeping a pH of 3.6 and 4.9 grams of acidity. It has notes of aromatic herbs and very ripe berry fruit and is a little earthy and dusty. The palate is quite balanced and focused, better than the nose. It fermented in stainless steel with three to four weeks of maceration, where the wine stayed for longer this year and later matured in 1,000- and 3,000-liter oak foudres and some barrels for a little longer this year.
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.