Winemaker Notes
Montecillo wines are crafted to enjoy a long bottle life; they continue bottle ageing longer than those from other wineries in the region.
This wine is an ideal companion for grilled or barbecued red meat and all types of stew, including slightly spicy dishes. A powerful wine, it also enhances the flavor of rich and fish dishes.
Professional Ratings
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
One of the great estates in the world of wine, Bodegas Montecillo has produced an excellent Reserva. The wine deftly combines aromas and flavors of sweet earth, black fruit and a classic touch of rusticity. Perfect for new world drinkers wanting to get into wines from the old country, this one will pair nicely with braised meats. Drinks well now. (Tasted: June 20, 2016, San Francisco, CA)
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Wine Spectator
Smoke, tar and gamy notes give a savory accent to this focused red, whose black cherry, toast and mineral flavors are supported by firm tannins and juicy acidity. Drink now through 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.