Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Cirsion is a different kettle of fish, as it should be given the price. It is becoming clear that 2004 was a great vintage in Rioja and this wine is truly special. Dark ruby/purple in color, it exhibits a stunning nose of acacia flowers, black cherry, black currant, and spice box. This is followed by a rich, opulent, powerful wine which manages to retain a velvety palate-feel and superb elegance. There is a splendid integration of oak, tannin and acidity and the structure for 4-6 years of further development.
-
Wine Enthusiast
Char and chocolate, then a dollop of rum raisin and black cherry, and there is your nose. This version of Cirsion, one of our very favorite modern Riojas, is relatively soft, raisiny and simple, and for that it doesn't quite rate with some of the past vintages, which were spectacular. But that doesn't mean you won't love the wine's smooth texture, cocoa and baked berry flavors, and its overall generous character.
-
Wine Spectator
Lively and graceful, this focused red delivers cherry and black raspberry flavors wrapped in toasty oak, with coffee and mineral notes. The tannins are well-integrated, and the acidity is bright.
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.