Winemaker Notes
Blend: 100% Tempranillo
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This muscular red has a thick texture, with firm tannins, showing more structure than flavor for now. The balanced core of currant, licorice, espresso and mineral opens into floral and spicy notes on the finish. Delivers power with grace, in the modern style. Best from 2017 through 2027.
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Wine Enthusiast
This small-production Rioja (under 200 cases) is focused, minerally and lightly charred up front, with blackberry, cassis and vanilla aromas. A flush, bright not-too-heavy palate offers lively black cherry and blackberry flavors accented by creamy vanilla and char. A medium-long, elegant finish with healthy acidity indicates that this will age nicely through about 2023.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
I found riper aromas in the nose of the 2011 Finca la Emperatriz Parcela No. 1 than in the Crianza. With notes of dark plums, Morello cherries and hints of decayed violets, this pure Tempranillo from a specific plot (plot No. 1, hence the name) aged in new French oak barrels for 14 months after fermenting in oak vats. Perhaps it's framed by the wood, but it's not as lively as its Crianza sibling. The palate is medium to full-bodied, with abundant tannins and a slightly drying finish that makes me think that it would benefit from more time in bottle.
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.