Rioja
Rioja, one of Spain's most esteemed wine regions, is renowned for its exceptional fine wines. With a winemaking tradition that spans centuries, Rioja is celebrated for its unique terroir, diverse grape varieties, and the artistry of its winemakers. Situated in northern Spain, Rioja produces wines that embody the rich history and passion of Spanish winemaking.
One of the most famous vineyards in Rioja is Bodegas Marqués de Riscal, a historic winery that has been producing wines since 1858. Their wines, including the iconic Marqués de Riscal Reserva and Marqués de Riscal Gran Reserva, are renowned for their elegance, complexity, and age-worthiness.
Another esteemed vineyard is Bodegas López de Heredia Viña Tondonia, known for its traditional winemaking practices and long-aged wines. Their Viña Tondonia Reserva and Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva are highly sought-after by wine enthusiasts seeking the classic Rioja style.
Rioja is primarily known for its red wines, which are crafted predominantly from the Tempranillo grape variety. Notable vineyards such as Bodegas Muga, Bodegas Roda, and Bodegas CVNE (Compañía Vinícola del Norte de España) produce exceptional red wines that showcase the region's unique characteristics. These wines display flavours of ripe red fruit, subtle oak influence, well-integrated tannins, and a remarkable balance.
Rioja also offers notable white wines, mainly made from the Viura grape variety. Bodegas Riojanas, Bodegas Ontañón, and Bodegas Valdemar are among the renowned vineyards that produce exquisite white wines with vibrant acidity, citrus flavours, and a refreshing crispness.
The region's wines are often classified into four categories: Rioja, Crianza, Reserva, and Gran Reserva, indicating the aging process and quality level. This classification system ensures consistent quality and allows wine lovers to choose wines based on their preferred style and maturity.
Rioja's fine wines beautifully capture the essence of the region, showcasing a harmonious balance between tradition and innovation. Whether you're savouring a well-aged Reserva, a vibrant Crianza, or a complex Gran Reserva, Rioja's wines promise an unforgettable experience that reflects the region's winemaking heritage and dedication to excellence.
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Rioja
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Vinous (94)
(85% tempranillo and 15% graciano) Glass-staining purple. Youthfully backward nose displays inky dark berry and plum aromas, along with licorice, espresso and dark chocolate. Then shockingly fresh and precise on the palate, offering sweet black raspberry and blueberry flavors, with powerful tannins adding structure. Coats the palate and reaches every nook and cranny of the mouth, gaining spice and cracked pepper nuances with air. As powerful as this wine is, there's an uncanny weightlessness to it that is intriguing. Finishes clean and long, with lingering spiciness.Inc. VAT£873.89 -
Wine Advocate (95)
2001 is a great vintage for all the wines from La Rioja Alta but the long-awaited 2001 Gran Reserva 890 is otherworldly. 2001 was a slow maturing vintage which produced smaller grapes especially in the old vineyards on the slopes of the Sierra Cantabria in the villages of Brinas, Labastida and Villalba where the vineyards that make it into this wine are located. The final blend contains a majority of Tempranillo with 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo. The wine ferments with the natural yeasts attached to the grapes in stainless steel vats and is aged for six years in used American oak barrels with 12 manual rackings. A selection of the best barrels were blended together and bottled unfiltered in March 2008. Only 15,000 bottles were produced. It shows (even) younger and more concentrated than the 2004 904, a darker shade of red and a somehow backward and reticent nose (relatively speaking) of forest floor, cold bonfire, antique shop, truffles, game, sandalwood, nutmeg and clove. The fruit is also a little darker and the palate more austere, but still showing vibrant and supple, with clean flavors and a great finish. This is my favorite modern time 890. Bravo! Drink 2016-2026.Inc. VAT£919.24 -
James Suckling (96)
Lovely dried red fruit, such as plums with just a hint of prunes. Cedar, walnut and leather undertones. Full-bodied with lots of fruit, considering its age, as well as hints of smoke, tobacco, bark and black tea. Some balsamic at the finish. Traditionally styled with lovely results. Drink or hold.Inc. VAT£442.84 -
James Suckling (97)
A perfumed nose of plums, mulberries, mushrooms, caramel, sweet tobacco and sweet spices. Full-bodied with velvety, fine tannins and lively acidity. Balanced and supple with a creamy texture. Delicate and precise with a long, polished finish. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. Drink or hold.Inc. VAT£512.44 -
Inc. VAT£221.09 -
Vinous (93)
Dark ruby. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes spice-tinged dark fruit preserves, potpourri, vanilla and incense, and a smoky mineral overtone builds as the wine opens up. Sappy and broad on the palate, offering weighty blackberry, cherry-vanilla and spicecake flavors that turn spicier with air. Shows excellent precision on the persistent finish, which features sweet dark fruit liqueur and floral elements and harmonious tannins.Inc. VAT£325.24 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
La Rioja Alta is one of the most traditional wineries in Haro’s Barrio de la Estación, famous for producing wines that are good to drink on release, but also age beautifully in bottle. This new Gran Reserva, made from Tempranillo with 6% Graciano for added backbone, is very much a reflection of the cooler, more “Atlantic” 2014 vintage. La Rioja Alta didn’t make its top two Gran Reservas – 904 and 890 – in 2014, so all of its best grapes were used for Viña Arana. Fine and elegant, with vibrant acidity, notes of coconut and cinnamon from the American oak and a core of savoury, refreshing tobacco leaf and red berry flavours framed by fine, caressing tannins. Old-fashioned Rioja at its glorious best.Inc. VAT£379.24 -
Decanter (96)
Beautiful nose coconut cream, vanilla and mocha nose. Smooth and mellow on the rich and velvety palate with lots of sweet spices, dates and chocolate-covered currants. Long-lasting and utterly delicious.Inc. VAT£259.24 -
Inc. VAT£652.87 -
Inc. VAT£391.49 -
Wine Advocate (94+)
The 2016 Viña Ardanza Reserva was produced with 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha that matured in used American oak barrels for three years, where it was hand-racked from barrel to barrel six times in the case of Tempranillo and five times for the Garnacha, as it had a slightly shorter élevage of 30 months. Against all odds, I found the 2016 to be fresher than the 2015 and less developed, despite the fact that winemaker Julio Sáenz told me he considers it a warmer year. But I have found many wines I like in 2016, and the wine feels very clean and quite harmonious, younger and less developed, with more primary notes and a velvety mouthfeel. 600,000 bottles produced. The wine was bottled in June 2020.Inc. VAT£252.04 -
Inc. VAT£1,531.24 -
Inc. VAT£357.64 -
Wine Advocate (93)
2015 was considered a very good vintage, because it was warm, dry and healthy, and the 2015 Viña Gravonia Blanco has a little more alcohol at 13%—only half a degree makes a big difference, and the wine is not as lively as other cooler vintages. For María José López de Heredia, the wine is too alcoholic; the vintage had perfect ripeness and the grapes were super healthy, but the wine lacks the citrus freshness and the vibrancy Gravonia should have. 27,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2021. The wine matured for four years in well-seasoned American oak barrels.Inc. VAT£318.29 -
Vinous (94)
(aged for nine-and-a-half years in American oak barrels and then held in bottle for at least nine years before release) Limpid, brass-tinged yellow-gold. Highly pungent, heady aromas of orange pith, dried peach, iodine, jasmine, honey and toasted brioche pick up a smoky mineral nuance as the wine opens up. Deeply concentrated and expansive in the mouth, offering palate-coating marmalade, pit fruit and sweet butter flavors that show a refreshingly bitter edge and an echo of minerality. Sappy and surprisingly vibrant for its heft, delivering powerful mineral thrust and persistent floral and smoky mineral notes that cling to the strikingly long finish.Inc. VAT£3,008.69 -
Wine Advocate (93)
The 2011 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva reflects a warm and ripe year, and the wine is more evolved and already hints at some caramel and honey. It has a mellow palate without the vibrancy of the 2010 I tasted next to it. This wine matured in used, ancient American oak barrels for six years. 19,000 bottles were filled in November 2019.Inc. VAT£853.24 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn't quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you'd guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years' time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after being fined with egg whites in July 2012.Inc. VAT£1,352.44 -
Wine Advocate (96)
Following the appreciation of the 2007 vintage from María José López de Heredia, the red 2007 Viña Tondonia Reserva is showing great, revealing unusual finesse and elegance. The nose is a little reticent but nuanced and complex, a little shy rather than explosive. The palate is medium-bodied, and the tannins are very refined. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Viña Tondonia Reserva of recent years. 200,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2015.Inc. VAT£315.64 -
Tim Atkin MW (97)
Tondonia's reds have been on an upward curve recently and are now at the same level as the bodega's world-class whites. This is a fine, elegant, savoury, low-alcohol blend of Tempranillo with 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Mazuelo and Graciano, combining summer berry fruit, racy acidity, granular tannins and an earthy, balsamic undertone. Good now, but this will develop further in bottle.Inc. VAT£289.24 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
Serious and concentrated, at least by the standards of some López de Heredia reds, this reflects the heat of the 2009 vintage. Tempranillo-based with 30% Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo, it’s spicy, savoury and high toned with grippy tannins, layers of tobacco and red fruits and classic, supporting acidity. 2021-30Inc. VAT£289.24 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2010 Viña Tondonia Reserva has all I expect from a Reserva from Tondonia, complexity, elegance and evolution, a developed nose with notes of forest floor and wild berries, herbs and flowers, a touch of iodine, brick dust and very fine, polished tannins. It has the seriousness and elegance of Tondonia. This is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho (they use the masculine form of the name of the grape) and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in the ancient oak vats from when the winery was created 144 years ago and matured in well-seasoned, American oak barrels for six years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.6 grams of acidity. 260,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2017.Inc. VAT£236.44 -
James Suckling (95)
A traditional beauty that effuses iron, warm earth and savory tobacco leaves, together with plums, spices and orange zest. This is juicy and still tight, with firm but savory tannins. Medium-weight and quite zesty in texture, as is the case with the other López de Heredia reds tasted this session. Drink now or hold.Inc. VAT£358.84 -
Inc. VAT£540.29 -
James Suckling (99)
Marvelous aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, cedar and mushrooms. Some dried cheese. Then turns to flowers. Very complex. Full and intense with fantastic depth and power. It goes on for minutes. It is a wine that exudes tradition but gives a sense of modernity with precise winemaking. Two years in oak, one in concrete and three or four in bottle. Drink on release and age onwards.Inc. VAT£1,364.44 -
James Suckling (98)
Extremely well-mannered, traditional character to this, showing layer upon layer of savory complexity on the nose, with iron, dried meat, tobacco, balsamic fruit, dried red berries, orange peel, leather and dried mushrooms. A medium-to full-bodied, linear and zesty Rioja that’s full of nuanced flavors that linger through the very long, savory finish. Floral, too. Yet, it remains bright and precise. Tempranillo with 16% mazuelo. Drink on release or hold.Inc. VAT£1,044.04 -
James Suckling (100)
So much dried flower, mushroom, iron, rust, sweet berry, and grilled orange. Full-bodied with very elegant and refined tannins that melt in the mouth and give a real sense of place and integrity. Balanced and harmonious. The finesse and finish is endless. Production was 30% less than in 2011. Already so drinkable. A wonderful future. This is the new 1934 or 1964, two legends. Drink or hold.Inc. VAT£1,730.44 -
Wine Advocate (100)
I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life. I did a vertical tasting of many of the old, historic vintages of this wine, and they are included in a separate article in this very same issue. This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea. This is mostly Viura with perhaps a pinch of Malvasía Riojana (aka Alarije). The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. The potential next release could be the 1998 in no less than ten years' time.Inc. VAT£3,146.42 -
Vinous (91)
Opaque ruby. Oak-spice-accented red and blue fruits, vanilla, roasted coffee and a hint of smokiness on the perfumed nose. Supple and expansive in the mouth, offering concentrated black raspberry and cherry-vanilla flavors that turn sweeter with air. The vanilla and cherry notes linger on the sweet, persistent finish, which is shaped by supple, harmonious tannins. Definitely showing its oak right now, but there's plenty of fruit to back it up.Inc. VAT£235.24 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
Fresh, serious, stylish and well balanced, this is a delightful 2015, with no sign of the heat of the vintage.Inc. VAT£199.24 -
Inc. VAT£265.24
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Vinous (94)
(85% tempranillo and 15% graciano) Glass-staining purple. Youthfully backward nose displays inky dark berry and plum aromas, along with licorice, espresso and dark chocolate. Then shockingly fresh and precise on the palate, offering sweet black raspberry and blueberry flavors, with powerful tannins adding structure. Coats the palate and reaches every nook and cranny of the mouth, gaining spice and cracked pepper nuances with air. As powerful as this wine is, there's an uncanny weightlessness to it that is intriguing. Finishes clean and long, with lingering spiciness.In Bond£709.00 -
Wine Advocate (95)
2001 is a great vintage for all the wines from La Rioja Alta but the long-awaited 2001 Gran Reserva 890 is otherworldly. 2001 was a slow maturing vintage which produced smaller grapes especially in the old vineyards on the slopes of the Sierra Cantabria in the villages of Brinas, Labastida and Villalba where the vineyards that make it into this wine are located. The final blend contains a majority of Tempranillo with 3% Graciano and 2% Mazuelo. The wine ferments with the natural yeasts attached to the grapes in stainless steel vats and is aged for six years in used American oak barrels with 12 manual rackings. A selection of the best barrels were blended together and bottled unfiltered in March 2008. Only 15,000 bottles were produced. It shows (even) younger and more concentrated than the 2004 904, a darker shade of red and a somehow backward and reticent nose (relatively speaking) of forest floor, cold bonfire, antique shop, truffles, game, sandalwood, nutmeg and clove. The fruit is also a little darker and the palate more austere, but still showing vibrant and supple, with clean flavors and a great finish. This is my favorite modern time 890. Bravo! Drink 2016-2026.In Bond£750.00 -
James Suckling (96)
Lovely dried red fruit, such as plums with just a hint of prunes. Cedar, walnut and leather undertones. Full-bodied with lots of fruit, considering its age, as well as hints of smoke, tobacco, bark and black tea. Some balsamic at the finish. Traditionally styled with lovely results. Drink or hold.In Bond£353.00 -
James Suckling (97)
A perfumed nose of plums, mulberries, mushrooms, caramel, sweet tobacco and sweet spices. Full-bodied with velvety, fine tannins and lively acidity. Balanced and supple with a creamy texture. Delicate and precise with a long, polished finish. 90% tempranillo and 10% graciano. Drink or hold.In Bond£411.00 -
In Bond£165.00
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Vinous (93)
Dark ruby. A deeply perfumed bouquet evokes spice-tinged dark fruit preserves, potpourri, vanilla and incense, and a smoky mineral overtone builds as the wine opens up. Sappy and broad on the palate, offering weighty blackberry, cherry-vanilla and spicecake flavors that turn spicier with air. Shows excellent precision on the persistent finish, which features sweet dark fruit liqueur and floral elements and harmonious tannins.In Bond£255.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
La Rioja Alta is one of the most traditional wineries in Haro’s Barrio de la Estación, famous for producing wines that are good to drink on release, but also age beautifully in bottle. This new Gran Reserva, made from Tempranillo with 6% Graciano for added backbone, is very much a reflection of the cooler, more “Atlantic” 2014 vintage. La Rioja Alta didn’t make its top two Gran Reservas – 904 and 890 – in 2014, so all of its best grapes were used for Viña Arana. Fine and elegant, with vibrant acidity, notes of coconut and cinnamon from the American oak and a core of savoury, refreshing tobacco leaf and red berry flavours framed by fine, caressing tannins. Old-fashioned Rioja at its glorious best.In Bond£300.00 -
Decanter (96)
Beautiful nose coconut cream, vanilla and mocha nose. Smooth and mellow on the rich and velvety palate with lots of sweet spices, dates and chocolate-covered currants. Long-lasting and utterly delicious.In Bond£200.00 -
In Bond£512.00
-
In Bond£307.00
-
Wine Advocate (94+)
The 2016 Viña Ardanza Reserva was produced with 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha that matured in used American oak barrels for three years, where it was hand-racked from barrel to barrel six times in the case of Tempranillo and five times for the Garnacha, as it had a slightly shorter élevage of 30 months. Against all odds, I found the 2016 to be fresher than the 2015 and less developed, despite the fact that winemaker Julio Sáenz told me he considers it a warmer year. But I have found many wines I like in 2016, and the wine feels very clean and quite harmonious, younger and less developed, with more primary notes and a velvety mouthfeel. 600,000 bottles produced. The wine was bottled in June 2020.In Bond£194.00 -
In Bond£1,260.00
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In Bond£282.00
-
Wine Advocate (93)
2015 was considered a very good vintage, because it was warm, dry and healthy, and the 2015 Viña Gravonia Blanco has a little more alcohol at 13%—only half a degree makes a big difference, and the wine is not as lively as other cooler vintages. For María José López de Heredia, the wine is too alcoholic; the vintage had perfect ripeness and the grapes were super healthy, but the wine lacks the citrus freshness and the vibrancy Gravonia should have. 27,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2021. The wine matured for four years in well-seasoned American oak barrels.In Bond£246.00 -
Vinous (94)
(aged for nine-and-a-half years in American oak barrels and then held in bottle for at least nine years before release) Limpid, brass-tinged yellow-gold. Highly pungent, heady aromas of orange pith, dried peach, iodine, jasmine, honey and toasted brioche pick up a smoky mineral nuance as the wine opens up. Deeply concentrated and expansive in the mouth, offering palate-coating marmalade, pit fruit and sweet butter flavors that show a refreshingly bitter edge and an echo of minerality. Sappy and surprisingly vibrant for its heft, delivering powerful mineral thrust and persistent floral and smoky mineral notes that cling to the strikingly long finish.In Bond£2,488.00 -
Wine Advocate (93)
The 2011 Viña Tondonia Blanco Reserva reflects a warm and ripe year, and the wine is more evolved and already hints at some caramel and honey. It has a mellow palate without the vibrancy of the 2010 I tasted next to it. This wine matured in used, ancient American oak barrels for six years. 19,000 bottles were filled in November 2019.In Bond£695.00 -
Wine Advocate (98)
The 2001 Viña Tondonia Gran Reserva is the follow-up of the 1995. There is a sense of harmony and elegance, of nuance and subtleness that wasn't quite the same in the Bosconia, as comparing both wines is inevitable. They started picking the red grapes the 15th of October, and the last grapes were picked the 29th of October with good weather. The grapes ripened properly and thoroughly, and the wine has great balance for a long aging in bottle. This is 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in their 153-year-old oak vats with indigenous yeasts and matured in used barrels for 10 years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.4 grams of acidity (tartaric). The nose shows young (tasting it blind, you'd guess a 10-year old wine, not a 20-year-old wine!). It has a nose of sweet spices, underbrush and cigar ash, somewhat balsamic, bramble fruit with perfect ripeness, integrated and young but starting to show some tertiary complexity. The palate is velvety and medium-bodied, with fine-grained, chalky tannins denoting a limestone soil that brings finesse and texture and a sapid, tasty, almost salty finish. This is going to make a beautiful bottle of old Rioja in 30 years' time! 25,000 bottles produced. It was bottled after being fined with egg whites in July 2012.In Bond£1,111.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
Following the appreciation of the 2007 vintage from María José López de Heredia, the red 2007 Viña Tondonia Reserva is showing great, revealing unusual finesse and elegance. The nose is a little reticent but nuanced and complex, a little shy rather than explosive. The palate is medium-bodied, and the tannins are very refined. This has to be one of the finest vintages of Viña Tondonia Reserva of recent years. 200,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in November 2015.In Bond£247.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (97)
Tondonia's reds have been on an upward curve recently and are now at the same level as the bodega's world-class whites. This is a fine, elegant, savoury, low-alcohol blend of Tempranillo with 20% Garnacha and 5% each of Mazuelo and Graciano, combining summer berry fruit, racy acidity, granular tannins and an earthy, balsamic undertone. Good now, but this will develop further in bottle.In Bond£225.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
Serious and concentrated, at least by the standards of some López de Heredia reds, this reflects the heat of the 2009 vintage. Tempranillo-based with 30% Garnacha, Graciano and Mazuelo, it’s spicy, savoury and high toned with grippy tannins, layers of tobacco and red fruits and classic, supporting acidity. 2021-30In Bond£225.00 -
Wine Advocate (96)
The 2010 Viña Tondonia Reserva has all I expect from a Reserva from Tondonia, complexity, elegance and evolution, a developed nose with notes of forest floor and wild berries, herbs and flowers, a touch of iodine, brick dust and very fine, polished tannins. It has the seriousness and elegance of Tondonia. This is a blend of 70% Tempranillo, 20% Garnacho (they use the masculine form of the name of the grape) and 5% each Graciano and Mazuelo that fermented in the ancient oak vats from when the winery was created 144 years ago and matured in well-seasoned, American oak barrels for six years. It has 13% alcohol, a pH of 3.4 and 6.6 grams of acidity. 260,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in May 2017.In Bond£181.00 -
James Suckling (95)
A traditional beauty that effuses iron, warm earth and savory tobacco leaves, together with plums, spices and orange zest. This is juicy and still tight, with firm but savory tannins. Medium-weight and quite zesty in texture, as is the case with the other López de Heredia reds tasted this session. Drink now or hold.In Bond£283.00 -
In Bond£431.00
-
James Suckling (99)
Marvelous aromas of crushed berries, tobacco, cedar and mushrooms. Some dried cheese. Then turns to flowers. Very complex. Full and intense with fantastic depth and power. It goes on for minutes. It is a wine that exudes tradition but gives a sense of modernity with precise winemaking. Two years in oak, one in concrete and three or four in bottle. Drink on release and age onwards.In Bond£1,121.00 -
James Suckling (98)
Extremely well-mannered, traditional character to this, showing layer upon layer of savory complexity on the nose, with iron, dried meat, tobacco, balsamic fruit, dried red berries, orange peel, leather and dried mushrooms. A medium-to full-bodied, linear and zesty Rioja that’s full of nuanced flavors that linger through the very long, savory finish. Floral, too. Yet, it remains bright and precise. Tempranillo with 16% mazuelo. Drink on release or hold.In Bond£854.00 -
James Suckling (100)
So much dried flower, mushroom, iron, rust, sweet berry, and grilled orange. Full-bodied with very elegant and refined tannins that melt in the mouth and give a real sense of place and integrity. Balanced and harmonious. The finesse and finish is endless. Production was 30% less than in 2011. Already so drinkable. A wonderful future. This is the new 1934 or 1964, two legends. Drink or hold.In Bond£1,426.00 -
Wine Advocate (100)
I have been terribly excited about this wine since I first learned that (part of) it was still in cement waiting to be bottled in September 2013. I consider the rare white Castillo Ygay one of the greatest white wines ever produced in Spain, and the 1986 Castillo Ygay Blanco Gran Reserva Especial is a great addition to the portfolio of the winery--an historic wine that is coming back to life. I did a vertical tasting of many of the old, historic vintages of this wine, and they are included in a separate article in this very same issue. This 1986 had seen the light as a limited early release bottled in 1992 and sold around 1995, and some bottles might still be found in the market. But most of it remained unbottled and was kept at the winery, where it stayed in oak for 21 years, followed by some six years in cement vats until it was bottled. It has 13.5% alcohol, an extremely low pH of 2.98 and 6.75 grams of acidity (tartaric). It has a very subtle nose and it's a bit shy, a little closed at first. It was only bottled one and a half years ago, and it's not crazy to say that the wine is showing extremely young. The wine shows more open the day after, when it has developed some nuances of mushrooms and verbena tea. This is mostly Viura with perhaps a pinch of Malvasía Riojana (aka Alarije). The palate is both powerful and elegant, with superb acidity and great length, with volume and sharpness, with a mineral, umami-driven finish. It fills your mouth, tickles your taste buds and makes you salivate. There is nothing negative about the wine; there is no excess oak, nothing blurry, nothing to improve... perhaps the bottle used! I think this is a perfect wine. It seems to be getting younger and younger with time in the glass; it seems to be getting more focused and sharper, and I have no doubt the wine will evolve and last for a very, very, very long time in bottle. I kept the opened bottle for almost one week and the wine didn't move one inch--no oxidation or any signs of fatigue. Having tasted many other vintages, including the also perfect 1919 (which is still going strong at age 97), I have no doubt we're talking about a white for the next 50 years. Looking at the older vintages, I might even be underestimating its life span. The potential next release could be the 1998 in no less than ten years' time.In Bond£2,614.00 -
Vinous (91)
Opaque ruby. Oak-spice-accented red and blue fruits, vanilla, roasted coffee and a hint of smokiness on the perfumed nose. Supple and expansive in the mouth, offering concentrated black raspberry and cherry-vanilla flavors that turn sweeter with air. The vanilla and cherry notes linger on the sweet, persistent finish, which is shaped by supple, harmonious tannins. Definitely showing its oak right now, but there's plenty of fruit to back it up.In Bond£180.00 -
Tim Atkin MW (94)
Fresh, serious, stylish and well balanced, this is a delightful 2015, with no sign of the heat of the vintage.In Bond£150.00 -
In Bond£205.00
