Winemaker Notes
Blend: 95% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
One of the standouts in this report is the 2011 Rioja Gran Reserva, which is primarily Tempranillo blended with 5% Graciano. Aged two years in French and American oak followed by three years in bottle, it has a thrilling bouquet of spiced cherries, cedarwood, licorice, and graphite. Medium to full-bodied, incredibly elegant and seamless, it still has ample fruit and a big mid-palate, all pointing to it evolving gracefully for 15-20 years. Count me in as a fan.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Cropped from a ripe vintage, the 2011 Gran Reserva is mostly Tempranillo with 5% Graciano, aged in new French barriques for 12 months followed by a further year in used American oak barrels. It's chewy and juicy, with fruit from a ripe vintage that takes well the long aging in barrel. It's balsamic and spicy, an updated version of a classical Rioja, clean and pleasant.
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.