CVNE Imperial Reserva Rioja 2014
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Winemaker Notes
Intense body of cherry color with beautiful purple highlights. Attractive aroma of forest fruits, violets and licorice with reminiscences to Atlantic forest with notes to clove and cigar leaves. In the mouth we notice its softness and finesse in perfect balance with a silky tannin which makes us reach a long and balsamic aftertaste where the aromas are intermingled to make this wine elegant. It pairs perfectly with fatty fish, game, red meat and cured cheeses.
Blend: 85% Tempranillo, 15% Graciano, Mazuelo and Garnacha
Critical Acclaim
All VintagesImperial Reserva is a personal favorite, and from a vintage plagued by rain this is a swinging success. Rich aromas of maple are prominent, with solid berry fruit as the canvas. Punchy acidity seems raw at first, but it's the proper carrying vessel for tangy, spicy dried-fruit flavors that settle on cranberry and plum. Drink through 2032.
Rating: 92+
This red is aromatic, with floral and spice notes that follow through on the round, tender palate, mingling with berry, cherry and vanilla flavors. Supple, structured more by sweet-tart acidity than the light tannins. Distinctive and alluring. Drink now through 2024.
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.