Winemaker Notes
Blend: 97% Tempranillo and 3% Graciano
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2007 Orben is a blend 97% Tempranillo and 3% Graciano that is aged for 12 months in fine grain French oak. It comes from 75 micro parcels of vines planted between 1945 and 1954. It has a lifted bouquet that is very well-defined with dark cherry, pine needles and pressed flowers. The palate is full-bodied with grippy tannins that lacquer the mouth. The new oak (50%) is a little oppressive at this early stage although there is sufficient fruit for it to meld with time. Drink 2016-2025. Rating: 90+ Points.
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.