Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2022 Anza red blend, which I already tasted last year, and seems to have had very little development and comes through as young and fresh, perfumed, floral and elegant. It's a blend of Tempranillo, Garnacha, Mazuelo, Viura and Malvasía with a very elegant, medium-bodied palate with very fine tannins.
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Vinous
The 2022 Anza is 87% Tempranillo with 13% Garnacha and Graciano from Laguardia and Elvillar in Rioja Alavesa. A young, purple-hued wine, it offers aromas of sour cherry and elder alongside blackberry and herbal notes. Dry, juicy and taut on the palate, the stemmy, reactive tannins define a crunchy mouthfeel, lasting with a flavorful finish. This is a cheerful Rioja red.
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Wine Spectator
A minerally red, with racy acidity and firm tannins well-meshed with flavors of pureed black raspberry, spiced orange peel, wild rosemary, thyme and white pepper. The chalky tannins are firm on the finish. Best after 2027. 1,952 cases made, 250 cases imported.
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.