Winemaker Notes
Deep ruby red in color, clean and bright. The nose shows intense notes of ripe red fruits and notes from barrel aging such as toast, spices and smoke. The palate reveals a well-structured wine with firm but polished, rounded tannins and notes of fruit compote and elegant oak. The long finish adds to the ability of the wine to age well for a considerable time in bottle.
Blend: 90% Tempranillo, 10% Garnacha, Mazuelo & Graciano
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
Interesting plum, smoke, forest floor and oyster shell aromas. Lead pencil. Medium-bodied with subtle notes of matchstick, sandalwood and fresh berries. Minerally. Juicy and savory.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The young and lively 2018 Viña Real Reserva showcases the style of a cooler year with contained ripeness and Viña Real character. It's a gastronomical wine with very good freshness and red rather than black fruit, sweet spices and even a touch of blood orange peel. It's tasty, juicy and easy to drink, with a medium body and integrated oak. They might have used more French oak in the 2018, as they are renewing their barrels.
Rating: 93+
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.