Winemaker Notes
"It seduces right from the color, its flavor blares like a mellow jazz trumpet from the center of the taste, ripe and savory with a resonant spice lasting in waves along the top of the tongue. Firm and brisk, this is eminently drinkable; the fact that the flavor lasts for minutes only proves the longevity of the wine itself. Buy enough to revel in it now while saving a number of bottles for more sophisticated pleasures ahead."
-Wine & Spirits
Professional Ratings
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.