Winemaker Notes
It pairs perfectly with international food (curries, marinated fish and spicy dishes) and traditional red meats, game and cured cheeses.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2006 Reserva is a blend of 90% Tempranillo, 5% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from Rioja Alta that is aged for 20 months in American oak. It has a well-defined, very natural bouquet with dark cherries, bilberry, crushed violets and vanilla pod. The palate is well-balanced with silky smooth tannins, good acidity and a caressing, harmonious finish of truffle, strawberry, cassis and vanilla. This is a sensual Reserva that should age well. Drink now-2018.
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.