La Rioja Alta

History

Five Rioja and Basque families, who shared a passion for wine, founded the ‘Sociedad Vincola de La Rioja Alta’ in 1890. The Reserva 1890, predecessor of today’s Gran Reserve 890, was the first wine made by the winemaker Vigier.

Don Alfredo Ardanza, founder of La Rioja Alta and owner of Ardanza winery, proposed a merger of the two in 1904, and to commemorate the event, the Reserva 1904, predecessor of today’s Gran Reserva 904, was made.

In 1952 they acquired a bottling line, the first one installed in La Rioja region. A new winery was built in Labastida in 1996, equipped with state-of-the-art technology to improve the quality further.

Vineyards

Over 400 hectares of estate-owned vineyards located in Rioja, with Tempranillo dominating the plantations. Other local varieties, including Graciano, Garnacha and Mazuelo are also grown to provide the different wines their marked personality.

Limited production at under 5000 kilo per hectare, applying technology to control from the start of the growing cycle to harvest. The estate also pays attention to environment, not using aggressive treatments or inorganic fertilizers.

Winery

Combining tradition and technology, apart from the century-old winery in Haro, there are also modern facilities in Labastida. Oak is the core of the ageing process and the estate makes their own barrels, using completely artisanal methods, importing wood from US and dry it in open air for two years.

Every 6 months the wine is manually racked and after bottling the wine would continue to be aged for the specific period before release.

I have recently tasted the 2001 Gran Reserva 890 and below is my tasting note:

Appearance

Bright and clear, it has medium ruby color, with garnet rims and legs.

Nose

Clean, with medium (+) intensity of black fruit of plum, dried fruit of prune, oak notes of cedar and vanilla, maturity notes of cigar-box, animal notes of leather, sweet spice of cinnamon and clove. The wine is developing.

Palate

Dry with medium (+) acidity, the wine has medium tannin of ripe and silky texture, with medium alcohol and medium body, demonstrating medium (+) intensity of flavors including black fruit of plum, oak notes of cedar and vanilla, maturity notes of cigar-box, sweet spice of clove. The wine has a medium (+) finish.  

Conclusion

Very good quality Rioja Gran Reserva with good intense nose of high complexity, the wine has good acidity and vibrancy, well-balanced with a finesse of development, with palate of nice concentration and a long finish. It is ready to drink now and can further develop for another 3-5 years.