2015 La Rioja Alta Gran Reserva 904

Region: Rioja, Spain

Grape: Tempranillo, Graciano

Culinary Suggestions: Roasted Meats, Grilled Lamb Chops, Charcuterie, Mushroom Dishes, Hard Cheeses

Vineyard Practice: Sustainable

About

Few would dispute that La Rioja Alta is the leading quality focused producer in Spain's most famous wine region. Since the coming together of five growers to form the estate 130 years ago, they have produced some of the most highly regarded and longest-lived examples of Rioja. Their wines are ready for consumption on release, but will keep and evolve for many more years in bottle - decades in some cases. A situation so rare in the world of wine! - Importer Note

Tasting Notes

Vivid ruby. Expansive red and blue fruit preserve, tobacco, potpourri, spice and botanical herb aromas, with vanilla and smoky mineral notes emerging as the wine opens up. Sappy, penetrating and gently chewy on the palate, offering vibrant, mineral- and spice-accented black raspberry, bitter cherry and rose pastille flavors that deepen and turn sweeter on the back half. Shows sharp focus and floral lift on the impressively long, youthfully tannic finish, which leaves behind notes of candied blue fruits and spicecake.

95 points - Josh Raynolds, Vinous Media April 2021

Drink: 2025 - 2036