Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Nosing from one to the other, the 2008 Reserva has an almost identical bouquet to the 2007, with a coconut/vanilla tincture developing with time. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and, like the 2007, it handles the oak with style, thereby allowing the fruit to surface towards the finish with creme de cassis, dark cherries, soy and touch of orange blossom. This will be kept another three years in bottle, so it should turn out to be an excellent Reserva when ultimately released. Drink 2017-2028. Rating: 93+
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.