Winemaker Notes
Ideal on its own but is great paired with grilled meats, spicy dishes and aged cheese.
Blend: 80% Tempranillo, 12% Graciano, 8% Mazuelo
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A big, smoky nose with some herb-liqueur character, then plenty of tannins and substance on the palate. This is a bold wine with a long finish that’s crisp and dry. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
This bold red shows blackberry, boysenberry and plum flavors, backed by licorice, cocoa and sandalwood notes. Firm tannins and citrusy acidity keep this balanced. In the modern style. Drink now through 2030.
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.