Winemaker Notes
Bright ruby. Expressive aromas of redcurrant, cherry, licorice. Juicy in the mouth, with red fruit flavors mixed with toasty vanilla and underlying mineral notes. Penetrating acidity extends the long, spicy, floral-dominated finish.
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2019 Reserva Unica was produced with Tempranillo and 3% Graciano from one single vineyard, fermented, destemmed and with indigenous yeasts selected from their vineyards. It matured in oak barrels, 60% French and 40% American, for 24 months, including malolactic, and it was racked every four months. This is somewhere between the more classical range (Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reserva) and the more modern one. It's quite complete and balanced in a classical year, with ripeness, 14.1% alcohol, a pH of 3.66 and 5.6 grams of acidity, keeping the balance.
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Wine Enthusiast
Inky garnet in the glass, this wine offers a bouquet of cassis, butterscotch and crumbled sage leaf. Dark and red-berry flavors and notes of cocoa bean, eucalyptus, licorice and violet are set into a wall of compact tannins that slowly crumbles to expose a spicy, long-lasting finish.
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Vinous
The 2019 Reserva Única is primarily Tempranillo with a 3% addition of Graciano, sourced from San Vicente de la Sonsierra and Laguardia. Aged for 24 months in a combination of French (60%) and American (40%) oak barrels, 15% new, this purple wine reveals notes of sour cherry and pomegranate, intertwined with wild herbs and a cedar-vanilla layer. Dry and juicy on the palate, the fruit flavors linger long with a loose expression.
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Wine Spectator
Sleek and well-knit, this medium- to full-bodied red showcases a ripe core of black plum and mulberry fruit accented by fragrant flavors of Earl Grey tea leaves, anise, dried flowers and minerally smoke and spices. Silky and graceful on the palate, with supple tannins trimming the finish. Tempranillo and Graciano. Drink now through 2034. 1,714 cases made, 1,000 cases imported.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The largest production single vineyard (think of this as the entry level to the single vineyard releases), the 2019 Sierra Cantabria Reserva Única is deep ruby/plum-hued and offers a clean, classy, medium-bodied style as well as notes of cassis and darker fruits, some classic background oak, some spice, graphite, and violet notes, ripe tannins, and beautiful overall balance.
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.