Rioja Alta clearly my favorite Rioja, very consistently excellent, a blend of older style and newer style Rioja, which means (to me) not too much oak that overwhelms the fruit. This one is 20% grenache which melds beautifully with the tempranillo to yield a wine of complexity, grace, a lovely spicy blueberry/blackberry. Medium body, soft tannin, bit of cocoa/coffee. Excellent value on a restaurant wine list, tonight with former students and RA's and now friends, Morgan Dibble and Lauren Martens. Ate charcuterie at Estadio, a really outstanding Spanish place on 14th St near Logan Circle with a superb Spanish wine list. I'd give this one 92+ points.
WA: 93 points. The 2004 Vina Ardanza is a blend of 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha from 30-year-old vines in Fuenmayor and Cenicero. It is aged for 36 months in four-year-old American oak. It has a very enticing bouquet with dark cherry, Christmas cake, dried fig and espresso with fine delineation and bags of exuberance. The palate is medium-bodied with taut tannins, underpinned by a keen citric thread that cuts through the licorice-tinged, dark berry and allspice-tinged fruit with style. It is simply delicious on the bittersweet finish. Drink now-2020+
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment