Winemaker Notes
Characterized by black fruit aromas and hints of toast, this wine is supple, balanced and fresh on the palate with good structure and mild tannins and soft tannins.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Cherries, blueberries, dried herbs, bark, chocolate orange and cloves on the nose. Medium-bodied with firm, sleek tannins. Elegant and juicy Crianza.
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Wine Enthusiast
This dark-garnet-colored wine has a bouquet of purple plums, black-olive paste and flint. A sheath of soft tannins is wrapped around cassis, black-cherry, eucalyptus, mocha and truffle flavors that linger into a bright finish.
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.