Winemaker Notes
Clean, bright, red cherry color ruby rim. On the nose, intense aromas, integrate fresh fruits, and sweet hints due to the barrel ageing. Structured and elegant on the palate. Medium ? long finish, with sweet barrel ageing notes. It matches with any kind of meat and mushrooms rice. Some tasty or oily fish such as tuna or cod. Medium-aged cheese such as emmental or gruyere.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A transparent, aromatic red with blackberries, lavender with some violets. Medium to full body, very fine tannins and a beautiful finish with lovely fruit and firmness. It’s racy and fine. Drink or hold.
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Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
COMMENTARY: The 2017 Faustino Crianza perfectly balances fruit and oak. TASTING NOTES: This wine excels with aromas of ripe strawberries and black fruits, with a pleasing oak accent. Enjoy it with grilled lamb chops. (Tasted: October 25, 2022, San Francisco, CA)
In the mid 1800s, Eleuterio Martinez Arzok took his first steps toward establishing himself as a producer and merchant of wines from the Rioja region of Spain. He started out by selling his wines in the Rioja and Basque regions, direct from the barrel. Much has changed since then and the winery he founded has since become known as one of the premier fine wine producers of the Rioja region.
In the late 1950s, his similarly adventurous descendant, Julio Faustino Martinez, launched the family-owned label in both national and international markets. Today, Bodegas Faustino is Rioja's largest exporter of Gran Reserva wines. The winner of numerous awards and gold medals in international competitions and tastings, Bodegas Faustino is a proud custodian of the Rioja region's growing international reputation as a source of truly world-class fine wines.
With 1600 acres of its own vineyards, Faustino is self-sufficient in producing its Reserva and Gran Reserva wines. The vineyards are located in the upper part of Rioja Alavesa at an altitude of between 1500 and 1800 feet. The climate is cool, influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, and the vines thrive in the chalky soil. The state-of-the-art Faustino winery has a stock of 45,000 barriques, 80% of which are American oak. The winery maintains a permanent stock of 9 million bottles of Reserva and Gran Reserva wines.
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.