Winemaker Notes
A selection of the best soils from the vineyards is used to produce the Contino Reserva to offer the best possible wine in terms of acidity, concentration and maturity. The Tempranillo grapes are harvested primarily from an area of stony soil near the Ebro River, resulting in slower ageing due to the humidity of the ground.
Blend: 82% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo, 3% Garnacha
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A juicy and delicious red Contino with harmony and balance showing cherry, chocolate and sandalwood aromas and flavors. Extremely perfumed. Incense. Mushroom. Medium body, with firm, muscular and fine tannins that have excellent length and raciness and open nicely in the glass. 25% new French oak for 24 months. Beautiful now and will age wonderfully.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Gran Reserva comes from a rainier year at Contino, a challenging vintage that gave them a lot of work but with good results and healthy grapes. This was produced with a blend of 82% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo and 3% Garnacha selected by their ripeness, acidity and concentration. It fermented in concrete with indigenous yeasts and matured in 225-liter French oak barrels for two years. They aim for a renewed classical style. The parameters are 13.94% alcohol, a pH of 3.38 and 5.7 grams of acidity, a fresher wine reflecting a cooler year. There is more depth of fruit, more acidity and more complexity, while keeping the classical profile and with effect of the long élevage; it is spicy and developed, with a polished palate and a dry, chalky finish.
Contino, the first Rioja château 1973, impelled by CVNE and the owners of the 62-hectare property located in the Rioja Alavesa. The history of the property dates from the 16th century, and is reflected in its name. The “contino” was the officer in charge of a guard corps of a hundred soldiers who protected the royal family "de contino” (continuously) from the times of the Catholic Monarchs onwards. According to the tradition, Saint Gregory, the patron saint of vineyards, passed through the lands of this same Rioja property, giving rise to the use of his figure in the logo of this winery, and to the use of his name for some of the plots now planted with vines. The wine produced on this property, fruity and elegant, is heir to the best Rioja tradition. It is made with an individualised grape harvesting system in which only grapes from the same vineyards that surround the old manor house are used. Their origin in the various plots is noted. The perfect combination of soils, Atlantic-Mediterranean climate and refined technique have made Contino, more than 30 years after the first vintage, a reference product both in and outside Spain. The 62 hectares of Laserna vineyards in Laguardia are protected by the hill called the Cerro de la Mesa, which gives this land a characteristic orientation and mesoclimate. The hand-cut grapes are transported along a short road to the outbuildings so as to avoid damaging their qualities.
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.