Winemaker Notes
Brick red in color. Clean, complex and with a good intensity on the nose. Red fruit aromas well conjoined with those of the aging. Balsamic, spice (pepper), tobacco and leather notes. Well-structured, tasty, large and soft but with character and a good harmony in its flavors.
Blend: 70% Tempranillo, 20% Mazuelo, 10% Garnacha
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
The Escudero family started making wine in 1852 and, four generations on, it is still very much a family business. They own a total of 150ha of vineyards, of which 120ha are located on the southern slopes of the Monte Yerga mountain range, where the grapes for this wine are produced. The vines are grown at between 450m-800m above sea level and are approximately 40 years old. Predominantly made from Tempranillo blended with Mazuelo and Garnacha, this reserva was aged for 14 months in five-year-old American oak barrels followed by a further 28 months in bottle. Sarah Jane Evans: Supple, juicy, well-balanced, fully rounded. A lovely vintage and a great wine. Simon Field: A broad and generous mouthfeel, the tannic grip still persuasive, but acidity is wrapped around the black fruit core with subtle conviction. Pierre Mansour: Liquorice and dark fruit, compact, quite complex, framed by muscular tannins, underlying depth that unfurls in the glass, and really good length.
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.