Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2010 Predicador is a blend of 93% Tempranillo and 7% Garnacha cropped between October 7 and 14. The nose was suffering some bottle shock, but it certainly demonstrates intense floral aromas coupled with vibrant cassis fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with very fine, structured tannins that, even at this premature juncture, are obvious. Taut, tense, and supremely well-focused, this should turn out to be a superb wine when it is released later this year. Drink 2015-2022.
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.