Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Wine Spectator
A graceful red, with delicate notes of violet and anise winding through flavors of black cherry and black plum reduction, a touch of cocoa powder, fig cake and mandarin orange peel. Long and supple, expanding on the palate as the generous flavors are defined by sculpted tannins. This has concentration and density without excessive weightiness, with a savory component emerging through the midpalate and finish, showing hints of iron, graphite and mountain herbs. Drink now through 2035. 415 cases made, 150 cases imported.
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.