Winemaker Notes
Bouquet: Deep and fruity with a perfect touch of oak integrated into the ripened fruit.
Taste: Powerful and full-bodied although soft, round and velvety, it fills the mouth with ripe blackberries and firm tannins. Very well-structured, with a long, elegant finish.
Food pairings: An ideal accompaniment to red meat, especially when grilled, and all kinds of roasted meats, including those that are well-spiced. As a powerful wine, it also reinforces the flavors of strong and well-cured cheeses, such as Blue Cheese and Roquefort.
Professional Ratings
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.