Winemaker Notes
#13 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2019
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Impressive, polished and composed nose with an array of blueberries, blackberries and plums. The palate has a very composed core of fine, taut tannins that really deliver into the impressive, long and fresh finish. Great wine. Drink in 2020.
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Wine Spectator
This big red has a muscular structure, but the flavors are finely detailed, with black cherry, leafy, licorice and smoke notes mingling over sturdy tannins. Harmonious, showing depth and elegance. Best from 2020 through 2030.
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.