Winemaker Notes
Bright red and garnet with a rim turning to brick showing its extended ageing in barrel and bottle. Complex aromas from its development and ageing, mature ripe black fruit, and vanilla and cinnamon spice, with a deep mineral core. Velvety smooth, harmonious with a fresh finish.
Great match for roast meats, foie, game, aged or even blue cheeses.
Blend: 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The very classical 2016 Gran Reserva comes with a very traditional label (they seem to have changed the image of most wines), including the golden wire net. It was produced with a selection of grapes from their El Estanque estate in Haro, a canonical 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo. It fermented in stainless steel and matured in French and American oak barrels for two years and was kept in bottle for another three. It has a textbook spicy nose with sweet spices, smoke and toast, berry fruit and herbs, a touch of forest floor and truffles, with a moderate 13.5% alcohol and balancing freshness.
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Wine Enthusiast
The scent of black cherry, tobacco leaf and chocolate sets the scene for flavors of red currant, raspberry, mocha, cherry pipe tobacco and a touch of eucalyptus. Sinewy tannins are offset by brilliant acidity that endures on the tongue and gums.
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Wine Spectator
Lively and focused, this medium- to full-bodied red layers fine, taut tannins under a fragrant overtone of fern, mace and mocha notes. Shows flavors of dried cherry, cranberry and raspberry fruit, cola and loamy earth. Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo.
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.