Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2008 Gran Reserva is produced from 90-95% Tempranillo and the rest Garnacha, Mazuelo and Graciano fermented in inox. Malolactic fermentation is carried out in both French and American oak barrels where is aged for two years. During the aging process the wine is frequently racked, a natural way to make it clean and stable. The wine should be available in mid-2014, and it’s still resting in bottle. It has a serious character, a bit savage, slightly reduced at the moment, with fresh fruit (both red and black), murky, spicy aromas (nutmeg) and hints of smoke. The tannins are very fine-grained, it’s medium-bodied, with good acidity, very balanced, with great weight of fruit and a mineral finish. It has great intensity and harmony, and should age for a long time, resulting in one great classical wine. A great Gran Reserva that should please fans of both traditional and more modern wines at a very good price. Drink 2015-2028.
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Wine Spectator
Very solid for the vintage, with crushed plum, fig and black current fruit nicely woven with maduro tobacco and bittersweet cocoa notes. There's a loam edge on the finish, but this stays solidly fleshy through the end. Drink now through 2013.
Owned by the CVNE family , Viña Real dates back to 1920. Today this winery is not only a winemaking pioneer in ageing Rioja Alavesa but a timeless brand that has always remained faithful to its roots, with authenticity and sincerity at the fore.
Ever since then, a meticulous balance between tradition and modernity has defined the shape and content of Viña Real.
2004 saw the inauguration of the new Viña Real winery in Laguardia, where the whole process takes place from receiving the grapes to dispatching bottled wines.
Rioja Alavesa grapes are at the very heart of this winery. The winery’s name was inspired by the proximity of its vineyards to the old Camino Real. Clinging to this same patch of earth and blending into the Cerro de la Mesa hill is a monumental 30,000-square metre vat: this is the Viña Real building, an iconic design built in 2004 that masterfully blends the construction into the Riojan terrain.
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.