Winemaker Notes
This is a fresh, fruity and suggestively complex version of a wine produced from old Tempranillo vines, selected in small plots. The nose is fresh and rich, akin to red fruits, raisins and Mediterranean herbs, and a palate with underlying acidity, enough to enhance the vibrant and lively fruit aromas. It is well-structured and wonderfully fresh, with a finish that is long and pleasing.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A bright, neoclassic Rioja with refined balsamic fruit, cocoa powder, savory tobacco leaf and a hint of cigar box. A medium-to full-bodied red with tight and chalky tannins and an excellent, layered finish.
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.