Winemaker Notes
Full-flavored on the attack with a base of wild berries as the main sapid sensation, by way of a mixture of jam, sweets and macerated sloes. A slight velvet feel, with a liqueur finish. A lightly velvety touch, with hints of dairy and liquorice. Persistent and warm.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2004 Labastida Reserva is a traditionally styled Rioja made from 100% Tempranillo that was aged for 16 months in seasoned French and American oak. Bright cherry red in color, the nose reveals smoke, mineral, leather, and black cherry. This leads to an elegantly styled wine with nicely integrated oak, wild berry flavors, excellent depth, and enough structure to evolve for another 2-3 years. It will offer prime drinking from 2011 to 2020.
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.