Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is very tannic and powerful with a full body, and a solid backbone. Dark berry and chocolate undertones. Hints of wet earth. Needs time to come together still. Tannic. Decant before serving or wait until 2020.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Not far off from the phenomenal 2010, the 2011 Reserva was cropped from a much warmer and riper vintage and it shows. This is the cuvée that represents the house style and wants to showcase the landscape of their estate, blending grapes from their 108 hectares of vineyards located at altitudes ranging from 550 to 800 meters altitude, with vines aged between 35 and 80 years. It's mostly Tempranillo with some Garnacha and Graciano, fermented with natural yeasts and aged in barrel for some 16 months before being bottled. There are aromas of damson plums and plenty of spices, quite ripe and heady, a little cooked. The palate is lush and round with abundant, dusty tannins. This is a powerful vintage.
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Jeb Dunnuck
A solid value, the 2011 Remelluri Reserva is a rounded, sexy wine that delivers loads of pleasure. Blackberries, plums, ground herbs, licorice, and a touch of violet notes all emerge from this medium to full-bodied Rioja that’s ideal for drinking over the coming 7-8 years or so. It’s fruit-loaded yet also balanced and classic Rioja.
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.