Winemaker Notes
Maroon in color, bright with ripe fruit aromas; blackberries, plums and hints of cherry. Notable presence of barrel. In mouth, it has volume and is long and lingering.
To be enjoyed with red meats and elaborate sauces.
Blend: 90% Tempranillo,8% Graciano, 2% Mazuelo
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Sourced from a very dry year that produced fresher wines than expected, the 2012 Gran Reserva is mostly Tempranillo with some 8% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo that matured in American oak barrels for 30 months and now 32 months in bottle. They have seen a small revival in the Gran Reserva, a category that almost disappeared at one point. It's balsamic, spicy, smoky and polished, in a classical style but somehow updated, clean and with more fruit. The palate is medium-bodied, with some dusty tannins and good acidity. A classical Rioja, ideal with food.
Rating: 90+
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.