Winemaker Notes
The nose is deep and intense, offering notes of vanilla, coffee, spices, and ripe red fruit. Aromas of dry leaves, leather and a rich, nutty background are evidence of the bottles aging period. The palate is balanced and silky with an elegant finish. This Gran Reserva has a complex and intense personality that will evolve positively over the coming years.
Professional Ratings
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Tasting Panel
A marvelously detailed wine that is almost fully mature as it approaches a decade since the fruit was harvested, this shows very expressive aromas and flavors intermingling spicy, savory notes with both red and black toned fruit. Both oak and tannin are fully integrated, making this a medium-bodied, versatile, and thoroughly delicious partner for many foods.
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James Suckling
This shows aromas of dried flowers, dark berries and red fruit. The palate is medium- to full-bodied, with fine-grained tannins balanced by a persistent thread of dark fruit that carries through the finish. Shows slow evolution and remarkable freshness despite its nine years. Drink or hold.
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Decanter
Characterful and powerful, showing a generous black fruit profile with notes of leather and toast. Lively palate, with velvety tannins.
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.