Winemaker Notes
The wine is deep garnet in color with bluish hints at the rim. On the nose, interesting aromas of wild berries and licorice merge beautifully with notes of toffee, tobacco leaf and undergrowth from barrel ageing. The palate reveals a wine characterized by its elegance, depth of flavor and fine, velvety tannins. The finish is long and complex. This beautifully balanced wine is perfect for pairing with fish, all types of meat and cured cheeses
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A tight and linear red now with very long and direct palate that is driven and intense. Medium to full body, bright blackberry and mineral character. Just a baby now. Give it three to four years to soften. A beauty. Try in 2021.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The analysis of the 2015 Imperial Reserva is almost identical to those of the Viña Real Reserva from the same vintage, but the profile is quite different. This is the more serious Haro-style red, and it has slightly darker fruit and a medium to full-bodied palate with very good grip, powerful but with great balance. The blend is also similar—85% Tempranillo and the rest split between Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha—but these are grapes from Rioja Alta fermented with yeasts selected from their own vineyards. The wine matured in French and American oak barrels for two years. The wines are different, but the quality level is similar.
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Wine Spectator
This balanced red shows muscle without losing grace. Black cherry, leafy, forest floor and toasty notes mingle over well-integrated tannins in a silky texture, with fresh acidity giving way to a floral, minerally finish. Not showy, but harmonious. Drink now through 2030.
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Wine Enthusiast
Savory oak and spicy foresty berry aromas are a touch gritty. A grabby palate with controlled astringency tastes of salty, lightly stalky plum and raspberry, along with vanilla. Earthy berry and oak flavors dominate a finish with tannic rub. Drink through 2035.
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Decanter
Made only in the best vintages from CVNE's oldest vineyards, Imperial is always a reliable, go-to Rioja. There's a lovely balance here between primary fruit and slightly evolved characters. Fermented in French oak vats, the wine is then aged in French and American oak for a year followed by further ageing in bottle. A classic, expressive Rioja full of strawberries and cream flavours. Drinking Window 2019 - 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.