Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
An old-school, ripe wine, the 2017 Reserva is a blend of 80% Tempranillo, 10% Graciano, 7% Mazuelo and 3% Viura, sourced from vineyards planted in 1940 in Rioja. Aged for 18 months in French and American oak barrels, this garnet wine reveals notes of wild herbs, blackberry and elder, accompanied by tertiary nuances of bitumen and varnish against an oaky backdrop. Dry, taut and fairly chalky on the palate, this classic Rioja lingers long with integrated hints of volatile acidity.
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.