La Rioja
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La Rioja
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Thrilled to be able to offer my thoughts on this special wine. Lunch with the full current release set from La Rioja Alta was thrilling. The wines are a demonstration of respect for the past and judicious use of modern technology combined with an approach that offer a style reminiscent of a refreshed classic. No fads here!The Ardanza is a ridiculous value. Coming on 10 years old. This is very good. The harmony and grape first tannin with layering of very subtle oak that wraps rather than in
With each step up through the range, the oak sophistication increases. Whilst clearly present in the Ardanza, it is much more sophisticated texturally. The 2019 Ardanza has a fresh line of acid. It's tight and quite vertical. Just starting to resolve. It still needs time to build expression and generosity. Saline with blue fuits. Linear shape and flow with excellent transparency. It's be intriguing to sit on a bottle over a couple of days and see where it ended up.Paul Kaan, Wine Decoded May
With each step up through the range, the oak sophistication increases. Whilst clearly present in the Ardanza, it is much more sophisticated texturally. The 2019 Ardanza has a fresh line of acid. It's tight and quite vertical. Just starting to resolve. It still needs time to build expression and generosity. Saline with blue fuits. Linear shape and flow with excellent transparency. It's be intriguing to sit on a bottle over a couple of days and see where it ended up.Paul Kaan, Wine Decoded May
The first of the La Rioja Alta wines to receive Gran Reserva status. With last year's release, I didn't feel the quality difference from the Ardanza justified stocking another wine.With the release of the 2017 Arana we see a build in sophistication and restraint over the 2019 Ardanza. The additional age showing through in a more resolved wine. High-toned, greater integration of oak playing much more subtly, a lacing of American oak and texturally much more refined. Energy, freshness mainta
Thrilled to be able to offer my thoughts on this special wine. Lunch with the full current release set from La Rioja Alta was thrilling. The wines are a demonstration of respect for the past and judicious use of modern technology combined with an approach that offer a style reminiscent of a refreshed classic. No fads here!The Ardanza is a ridiculous value. Coming on 10 years old. This is very good. The harmony and grape first tannin with layering of very subtle oak that wraps rather than in
With each step up through the range, the oak sophistication increases. Whilst clearly present in the Ardanza, it is much more sophisticated texturally. The 2019 Ardanza has a fresh line of acid. It's tight and quite vertical. Just starting to resolve. It still needs time to build expression and generosity. Saline with blue fuits. Linear shape and flow with excellent transparency. It's be intriguing to sit on a bottle over a couple of days and see where it ended up.Paul Kaan, Wine Decoded May
Thrilled to be able to offer my thoughts on this special wine. Lunch with the full current release set from La Rioja Alta was thrilling. The wines are a demonstration of respect for the past and judicious use of modern technology combined with an approach that offer a style reminiscent of a refreshed classic. No fads here!Exceptional depth and length, wonderful core of vibrant red fruit flowing through with great persistence. Building the secondary proportion of flavours to fruit over the A
Powerful yet complete and fresh, beautifully developed, just shifting into the second phase. A very thoughtful élévage, structural tannins hitting front mid palate (from oak), still fine long. A lift of VA that blows off quickly. Lovely set of flavours. Oppulence. Rich, full, and round with immediate generosity. A case of celebrating the differences with the 2015 iteration.Paul Kaan, Wine Decoded May 2026I tased again the stellar 2016 Gran Reserva 904, which is nothing short of bei
If 2008 felt cool and Atlantic, the 2009 Roda I could be described as Mediterranean, from a warm and healthy vintage. Here they aim for black fruit character while the regular Roda should show red fruit. The grapes are sourced from over 30-year-old vines and is mostly Tempranillo with some 5% Graciano. It matured in first and second use French oak barrels for 16 months. It's a warm vintage, without reaching the heights of 2011, but there was some stress in the peak of the summer, which in some w
I tased again the stellar 2016 Gran Reserva 904, which is nothing short of being spectacular and a textbook example of the grand traditional style. It was produced with 90% Tempranillo and 10% Graciano from a selection of vineyards in search of balanced wines with silky tannins, good acidity, character, length and aging potential. The élevage is long, four years in used barrels that average 4.5 years of age, during which time the wine is manually racked every six months. It's ripe with 14.5% al
Thrilled to be able to offer my thoughts on this special wine. Lunch with the full current release set from La Rioja Alta was thrilling. The wines are a demonstration of respect for the past and judicious use of modern technology combined with an approach that offer a style reminiscent of a refreshed classic. No fads here!A seamless, harmonious delight. Superb secondary to tertiary development whilst maintaining exceptional freshness for a wine aged this long. Earthy and savoury with faint l
As only the second vintage of 890 I've tried I was immediately struck by the contrast the 2011 has compared with the 2010. Share a glass with the importer, he remarked that the 2011 is a more typical vintage for the 890. While 2010 presented with a richness and generosity, the 2011 has the hallmarks of a great Claret. Vibrant fruit with a subtle underlying lacing of oak, building in the glass, fruit slowly shining through. A fine line of acid adds to the impression of delicacy and restraint. Low
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