Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
Recently, Patrick Mata and Alberto Orte of Peninsula Wines held a tasting of Riojas they’d purchased at auction in Spain. The wines had been held in the cold cellar of Los Tamarises, the Lazcano family’s restaurant in Getxo, north of Bilbao; the stash included a number of Cune Imperial wines from the 1950s and ’60s, which turned out to be the stars of the tasting. They are selling those wines to restaurants here in the US, providing a rare opportunity to taste grand old Rioja. If you can’t find (or afford) one of those bottles, here’s the next best thing: A vintage of Imperial that will provide exceptional drinking for the next forty years. No exaggeration. This is the stuff. It has the cool presence of Villalba fruit, from the mountains lining the western reaches of Rioja Alta, and a deep, plump currant and fraise de bois flavor with a briskness to balance its meaty, mineral-driven tannins. A 2001 destined to become a coveted classic.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A more complex, better defined nose than 200, with black cherries, spice and Seville orange marmalade. The palate is medium-bodied, with fine tannins cloaked in sweet dark cherry, bitter orange and strawberry fruit. It is lighter on its feet than the 2000, with less persistence, yet it shows greater harmony and tension. this is a fabulous Gran Reserva with enormous weight and dimension.
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Wine Spectator
Alluring aromas of spice, cedar and tobacco carry through on the palate in this supple, graceful red. Shows dried cherry, orange peel, vanilla and mineral flavors with light, firm tannins and racy acidity. Balanced and focused, in the traditional style. Drink now through 2018. 8,000 cases made
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.