Winemaker Notes
Ruby red color, deep and vibrant. Complex nose. It retains extraordinarily well the black fruit aromas of blackberries, blueberries, and plums. Gradually it opens up to reveal smoky, toasted wood nuances, with spices and hints of minerals and tobacco. On the palate is smooth with soft and velvety tannins, great palate weight, extraordinary balance acidity. Elegant and complex aftertaste, with hints of coffee, chocolate, tobacco and dark fruit.
Delicious with red meat, grills and roasts, game, mature and blue cheeses. Great with: Lamb stew with chestnuts sauce
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is very complex with ripe-fruit, smoked-meat and walnut aromas that follow through to a full body with round, velvety tannins and a rich and lightly chewy finish. Attractive to drink now, or hold.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
A classic Rioja, the 2011 Campo Viejo Gran Reserva serves up complex black fruits and coconut in the aromas and flavors. The wine's richness and smooth textures pair it well with grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: November 15, 2017, San Francisco, CA)
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.