Community Tasting Note

gazinho wrote:

Monday, October 17, 2011 - La Rioja Alta, a family-run firm founded in 1890, has, through the years, built up a huge vineyard of more than 300 hectares. the bodega is perhaps the best producer of the 'very traditional' style of Rioja, that is a wine of medium structure given long cask ageing and frequent racking producing a wine with evolved brick red colour at the rim, an intense bouquet of leather and tobacco and soft tannins. What sets La Rioja Alta apart from other traditionalists is that their wines also retain plenty of sweetness, vigour and flavour on the palate. They keep barrels for about seven years, so the average age is 3.5 years. Their wines are then given considerable bottle ageing before sale, and so are ready for drinking when released. Viña Ardanza is aged three years in barrels with six rackings. The 2001 is exceptional and one of the bodega's best vintages in the wine's 70-year history, hence the "reserva especial" (only the third time this special designation has been used). This is exceptionally fine, fragrant and silky with long sweet flavour, this has been carefully aged in oak and bottle to reach its enormous potential. Now to 2018.

Post a Comment / View gazinho's profile
Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue (11,138 views)