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 2022 Finca El Bosque grows in clay-limestone soils with abundant gravel and pebbles from bush-trained vines. It shows surprising finesse and elegance, its rounded edges etched in a contrast of iron-like black fruit supported by tremendous structure and firm tannins. The fruit is rich and ripe but more savory in character, nuanced in a sous bois quality and bright underlying acidity that persists through a long, balsamic finish.
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James Suckling
A deep nose with dark chocolate, sweet spices and lots of spiced blackberries. A touch of dried fruit as well, but nothing jammy. On the palate, this is flavorful and firm with almost full body and tightly wound, very fine-grained tannins. Long finish.
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Wine Spectator
Fragrant with mountain herb and mineral accents, this broad-shouldered red is thick and layered, offering a range of blackberry paste, fig cake, mocha and licorice notes. Shows fresh focus animated by balsamico acidity, and the muscular tannins are fine-grained as they firm the floral finish. Drink now through 2040.
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.