Winemaker Notes
Traditionally styled Rioja Reserva. Balsamic aromatics, complemented by undertones of red berries and earthiness. Notes of licorice and spice emerge on the palate.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
More tannic and muscular than the current Crianza, the 2020 Reserva offers thick, densely concentrated layers of dark, smoky fruit, and oak, made from lower-yielding tiny berries of Tempranillo. Expansive tannins coat the palate, adding medium-bodied intensity. The wine was aged 18 months in barrel and nearly the same length of time in bottle. There’s a leathery garrigue-type aspect to the finish that suggests it will continue to develop well 15-20 years from here.
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James Suckling
A woody nose with a strong presence of mocha and vanilla. Blackberries too. This is medium- to full-bodied and chewy with a long, toasty finish. Oak tannins and flavors are a bit over the top now but might show better integration in the next two to three years. Try after 2027.
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Vinous
The 2020 Reserva Ramírez de la Piscina, from San Vicente de la Sonsierra, was aged for 18 months in French oak. The nose offers ripe blackberry and plum notes alongside well-integrated oak, while it's intense and fruit-forward on the palate, with a compact structure and firm tannins. This has clarity and flavor, with a touch of heat that brings extra richness.
The name Ramírez de la Piscina traces its lineage back to the Navarra Kings who fought in the First Crusade during the 11th century. In early 1945, Julio Ramírez de la Piscina, followed the tradition inherited from his parents in Ábalos, and continued cultivating the family vineyards in San Vicente de la Sonsierra and began producing traditional Rioja wines. In 1961, Julio moved to Bilbao with his wife Angela and began selling his wine in the old Bodeguilla Riojana in the Plaza del Corazón de María.
In 1973, Bodegas Ramírez was officially founded and began to sell bottled wine under this name. In 1980, the fourth generation of the Ramírez de la Piscina family took over management of the winery, and in 1987, the name was changed to Bodegas Ramírez de la Piscina. The name change honors the family's historic surname, which is an ancient aristocratic Medieval Riojan name, originating from a 12th Century Romanesque church nearby the vineyards called Santa María de la Piscina.
All of the vineyards are estate owned and the vast majority of the plantings are Tempranillo on high density trellis. The oldest Tempranillo vineyards are head trained, and the family owns a few small plants of Garnacha, Viura, and Malvasia, that are used for the Rosado and Blanco. Ramirez de la Piscina champions the tradition of ageing classified, traditional styled Rioja.
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.