Winemaker Notes
Bright ruby colour. Fruity aromas of ripe red berries with lactic and toasted notes, as well as hints of black tea leaves. Fresh, pleasant, with fi ne tannins that develop tactile impressions. An easy-drinking wine.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
A village wine sourced from estate sites in San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Labastida, the 2021 Crianza is all Tempranillo grown in an extreme diversity of soils. Freshness and finesse are the markers of the area, and both are well represented here. Medium-bodied power supports generous, velvety layers of ripe raspberry complemented by an undercurrent of chocolate and wood spice. Pretty, there’s a hint of saline and leather that lead to a lengthy finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The pure Tempranillo 2021 Crianza, a modern classical red from a great year, shows the power, elegance and freshness of the year, with pristine fruit and very integrated oak after it spent 14 years in barrel, some of them American. It has tension and the elegant tannins from the year. It's approachable and will also be long lived. This is one of the finest years for this red that represents very good value.
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James Suckling
Spiced plums, cherries and berries with some licorice. Good acidity makes this medium-bodied Rioja a very drinkable and enjoyable wine. Juicy, medium-long finish with fine-boned tannins.
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Vinous
The 2021 Crianza Sierra Cantabria from San Vicente de la Sonsierra was aged for 14 months in French and American oak. The fruit-driven nose presents sour cherry, plum and subtle freshness. It's creamy and full-bodied on the generous, nuanced palate enhanced by the cool vintage.
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Wine Spectator
Fresh and fruit-driven, this balanced red offers flavors of wild strawberry, ripe cherry, peach skin, sage and milled white pepper framed by light, crisp tannins. Drink now through 2030.
Bodegas Sierra Cantabria was founded by Guillermo Eguren, a self-made bodeguero, who was, in the family tradition, a viticulturist. His family, native to San Vicente de La Sonsierra, one of the most sought-after terroirs in Rioja, had grown grapes in Rioja Alta and Alavesa since the 1870’s. For decades the family sold their grapes to local producers, but Guillermo recognized the potential that his family's vineyards had to create great wine and founded Bodegas Sierra Cantabria in 1957. Today, the fourth generation of the Eguren family directs all aspects of the winemaking process, with Marcos Eguren as the winemaker and director of operations and his brother Miguel Angel Eguren as the general manager. The family still prides themselves as viticulturists first, and as a result, all the grapes are estate grown. As viticulturists in Rioja Alavesa, they grow a vast majority of Tempranillo, with only a small percentage of Garnacha and Graciano, as they recognize that Garnacha and Graciano do not ripen reliably in northern Rioja.
Bodegas Sierra Cantabria is the family's original winery and comprises a collection of their most classic style Rioja wines. Due to their viticultural background, the family’s wines are composed of mostly Tempranillo, as they recognize that Garnacha and Graciano do not ripen reliably in Northern Rioja.
Although the family's business has evolved over the years through the foundation of other projects, Bodegas Sierra Cantabria comprises their most traditional, classic styled wines. The wines are made from a blend of selected vineyards, as opposed to Viñedos Sierra Cantabria, which is the family's collection of single vineyard wines.
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.