Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Enticing aromas of blackberries, leather and cedar with some dried flowers follow through to a medium to full body with firm tannins and a fresh, citrusy finish. Very traditional and real.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
2013 was a very tough vintage when they had to discard up to 100,000 kilograms of grapes and production of most of the wines was lower; it's also the year when their father died, and they were very encouraged to make very good wines. The 2013 Viña Cubillo Tinto Crianza is the entry-level red from that year, the cooler of the shortlist of 2013, 2014 and 2015 I tasted next to each other. The wine is more austere even within the style they say is their wine for the by-the-glass market. It's classical and developed with a polished palate after three years in barrel. It overdelivers for the conditions of the year. Rating: 92+
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.