Winemaker Notes
Ruby red in color, the wine shows a youthful hint at the rim. The nose reveals interesting and complex aromas of ripe fruits in perfect balance with spices, toffee, roasted coffee and balsamic notes. The palate is soft with silky tannins, good, fresh acidity and a long finish with a balsamic aftertaste.
In terms of matching, this wine is a perfect companion for any dish of the Mediterranean diet.
Blend: 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 5% Mazuelo
Professional Ratings
-
James Suckling
Aromas of plum and meat with a wet earth and hints of cedar. Medium body, very fine tannins. Juicy and delicious now. Not a big wine but ready and savory.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Cropped from a challenging year, the 2013 Cune Gran Reserva is the classical blend of 85% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano and 5% Mazuelo, and it matured in barrique for 24 months followed by 36 months in bottle before being released. They didn't make an Imperial Gran Reserva or even Reserva in 2013, so the best grapes from the challenging 2013 vintage went to this Gran Reserva. It's from a lighter year and perhaps had a softer vinification and a shorter élevage, delivering a gentler Gran Reserva with more fruit. It has an herbal twist that led us to discuss the 1975 Viña Real Gran Reserva, which has a really strong herbal strike. The palate is quite light and is medium-bodied, with mostly resolved tannins and a dry finish.
-
Wine & Spirits
With the flavor of wild black cherries, more skin and pit than juice, this wine’s fruit is just full enough to tangle with the oak and earth elements of its tannins and come out ahead. It’s peppery, with a stemmy grip. Classical Rioja.
-
Wine Spectator
This polished red offers expressive flavors of cherry, cedar, clove and floral, displaying supple tannins and citrusy acidity. Lively and fresh, with good stuffing. Drink now through 2023.
Cvne, is situated in Rioja in the traditional neighborhood of the station, where the oldest wineries of Rioja Alta established themselves, for the main reason of transporting their goods to the port of Bilbao.
In 1879, two brothers decided to set up a business in the recently flourishing trade of the wine business. C.V.N.E., Compañía Vinicola del Norte de España (The Northern Spanish Wine Company) or la Cuné, as it is commonly known in Haro, was created. This cellar still reflects the origins of the company and is kept in the traditional neighborhood of the Haro station.
The Cune winery in Haro, is made up of a group of buildings, mostly from the 19th century and arranged around a courtyard surrounded by pavilions for the purpose of wine production, aging, and bottling.
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.