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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Wine Enthusiast
Rich baked boysenberry and plum sauce are lifted by a beautiful line of integrated acidity. Mulling spices, tobacco, dill, and toasted cedar accents all come together in a wine that is both deeply flavorful and very elegant. It should drink beautifully through 2032.
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Vinous
The 2018 Gran Reserva (85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo from Haro) was aged for 24 months in French and American oak. Gentle bottle evolution appears on the nose, alongside dried flowers, dried herbs and faint maraschino cherry. On the palate, it’s dry and classical, with grippy tannins, supportive oak and chalky tension. Ready to drink now or over the next few years.
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.