Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Even if sometimes the 1975 can show a little herbal, the magnum of 1975 Único that I tasted showed quite well, still lively and with good concentration. At the time, the blend contained quite a high percentage of Bordeaux grapes and a little white, 70% Tinto Fino, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 5% between Malbec and Albillo Mayor, with an élevage of 10 years in oak containers of different sizes and ages.
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.