Winemaker Notes
Lovely floral undertones mingling with spices from the oak. Flavors are of ripe blackberries and rose petals. The palate is velvety, surprisingly delicate and lengthy. Blend: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Íñigo Manso de Zúñiga Ugartechea, who studied in Bordeaux, returned to Torremontalvo to develop this wine from his family’s oldest vines. Some date to 1864, when the vineyard was planted on sandy soils that happened to keep phylloxera at bay. Today, the youngest tempranillo and graciano vines in the vineyard are 80 years old. They produced a lush and delicious 2009, mostly about French-oak richness for now, but the dark, generous fruit has stamina and keeps giving. Cellar this to see what it might become with another five years in bottle.
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Wine Spectator
Cherry, cranberry, herbal and licorice flavors are bright and fresh in this firm red. Solid tannins and citrusy acidity impart structure and focus. Elegant, balanced and lively. Drink now through 2021
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.