Winemaker Notes
This is a cherry-colored wine with bluish notes on the meniscus. The aromatic intensity that gives us a wide range of aromas and we can find the fruits from the forest, highlighting blueberries and gooseberries, licorice and aromas from the aging in French oak barrels, such as clove, smoked or roasted flavors, toffees, etc. When we taste it we discover an endless number of sensations. Its entrance is smooth with a step marked by a tannin which is perfectly balanced with the unctuousness of the wine. The aftertaste leaves a little hint of acidity which gives freshness and length, and some fruity flavors mixed with sweet spices in the end. In glass it evolves by expanding its aromatic variety.
That is why it pairs with strong flavors as red meat and game dishes or even with desserts.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Black tea, dark fruit and hints of hazelnuts on the nose. Full-bodied with chewy tannins and a juicy finish. Hints of vanilla and spice to the attractive dark-berry fruit. Needs time to soften. Try after 2022.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2018 Asúa Reserva feels quite classical but with modern characteristics; it has fruit and is clean and tasty, with spicy oak and some chalky tannins. It's a blend of 85% Tempranillo and 15% Graciano and Mazuelo from Haro that will be labeled as village in the following years. It has 14% alcohol and a pH of 3.58, which means good freshness. This had a long élevage of 24 months in barrel, where they look for Haro typicity; it was harvested late with good ripeness and very good acidity and was aged in barrel for a long time. The fruit has a good spice of acidity that makes it fresh and long lived. It has hints of the mushroomy notes from the cave. Best After 2022
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.