Winemaker Notes
Very clear aromas of ripe black fruits, fine woods, pastry spices, dark chocolate. In the mouth it is very fine, intense and full-bodied, round with a wide range of subtle sensations and an opulent finish.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2021 Finca El Bosque comes exclusively from Tempranillo planted on deeper, gravelly soils. Aged mostly in new French oak, it's a dense, powerful wine offering impressive cassis and darker currant fruit to go with smoked tobacco, darker chocolate, and graphitedriven aromas and flavors. With medium to full-bodied richness, it's flawlessly balanced, has a focused, vibrant, pure profile, ample tannins, and a great finish.
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James Suckling
Profound, complex yet still accessible, with plenty of anise, dark spices, black pepper, cocoa powder, espresso, graphite, iodine and blackberries. Tight and super polished, with ripe, juicy fruit and a long, powdery finish. A vinous Rioja that delivers pleasure.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 El Bosque comes from 1.482 hectares planted in 1973 on deep gravel soils that produce powerful wines. It fermented in oak vats after a cold maceration and matured in new barrels, mostly French (5% were built with oak from central Europe), for 18 months. It has the refreshing effect of the cooler year with more freshness and nice balance. It's a powerful and generously oaked modern expression of Rioja, with more aromatics from the élevage than La Nieta from their project in Páganos.
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Wine Spectator
An enticing nose of dried lavender, thyme and licorice draws you into the glass, where steeped black cherry, raspberry ganache, ripe red currant, oolong tea and mineral flavors are rich and expressive. Sculpted by dense, fine-grained tannins, this expands on the silky-textured palate, showing fine length and integration throughout. Best from 2025 through 2036.
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.