Winemaker Notes
Sourced from over 70 tiny parcels of old-vine, head-pruned Tempranillo with a small percentage of Graciano, Orben is a modern-styled Rioja originating from high-elevation vineyards outside Laguardia on sandy, limestone soils. Harvested by hand, destemmed and fermented in stainless steel tanks, it is aged for 15 months in new French oak barrels.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Plums, dried herbs, tea leaves, cloves and baking spices on the nose. It’s full-bodied with chewy tannins. Chalky and structured with a core of black fruit at the center palate. Firm finish at this stage. A little bottle age will make it even better. Drink from 2023.
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.