Winemaker Notes
This powerful wine with aromatic herbs (thyme, rosemary, lavender and fennel) in the nose and full-bodied concentrated black fruit on the palate. Contador illustrates Benjamin’s philosophy of “Lento y Fuerte”: measured and forceful.
Blend: 94% Tempranillo, 3% Graciano, 3% Mazuelo
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The super elegant and insinuating 2016 Contador could very well be the modern version of the outstanding 2001. The nose is a little shy and takes time to reveal subtle aromas of violets, lilies and red cherries, deeply perfumed but not explosive. The explosion comes with the 2017 that I also tasted next to it; that was outspoken, while this 2016 is shyer. The palate is intense but velvety, even satiny, with ultra fine and elegant tannins and great purity of flavors, delineated, clean and symmetric. This has to be one of the finest Contador in recent times. Bravo! Unbelievably, this has 15.2% alcohol, which is completely disguised. This should age with grace and for a very long time, but it's hard to resist...
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.