Winemaker Notes
Bright red cherry color of medium intensity. Intense, deep and complex aromas of ripe red fruits, combined with aromas from the barrel aging (spices, coffee and vanilla). On the palate, it is balanced and elegant, with a high level of freshness and a long, deep and pleasant finish.
Professional Ratings
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Wine Enthusiast
Dark ruby to the eye, this wine has a nose of raspberry, clove and espresso bean. Rigid tannins coat the palate, backing flavors of blackberry, black cherry, anisette, menthol and violet. Notes of ripe cherry and white flowers are at play on the lingering finish.
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James Suckling
A perfumed nose of dark cherry, plum, coconut, cedar and dried thyme. Full-bodied with chewy tannins. Rich and structured with a chalky texture and a firm, delicious finish. Better from 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.