Winemaker Notes
Dark colour in the bulb of the wine glass, with a cherry red rim which, depending on the light, can reflect a slightly yellowish tinge from the ageing.
In the mouth the tannin soon appears on the central part of the tongue, very quickly fading from the front to linger on the edges, while the sensation on the palate evolves from freshness on the hard palate to finish on the soft palate with a sensation of warmth and finally leaving a sensation of toast underneath the tongue.
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.