Winemaker Notes
Intense cherry color with a violet hue. Fragrant and youthful, with aromas of violet and wild red berries. Subtle roasted background with hints of strawberry caramel and red licorice. In the mouth carries on the fruit character with abundant notes of berries. A great companion to vegetable stews and grilled seafood and white meat.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
A very classic Rioja nose with generous blackberries, dusty and nutty notes adding real interest. This may not be the most concentrated red Rioja you can find, but it has a very attractive balance of fruit, dry tannins, body and acidity through the long, elegant finish. Drink or hold.
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.