2004 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904

Community Tasting Note

BigGDaddy Likes this wine:

90 Points

Monday, July 3, 2017 - I have owned this for 3 years and was waiting and waiting to open it based on the reviews here. The first bottle, the cork just crumbled and the wine had turned. The second, it seems as if the best days were two years ago. Granted, it was fine, but the 05 is much better and I was humbly suggest drinking the 04 now. The color had turned to almost Brunello. It was not deep and rich. It took about 45 minutes to mute its sour start, and actually settled into a nice wine. Was concerned it had too much air already--but got better despite the coloration. It's a mystery.

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5 comments have been posted

Comment posted by studleytrey:

7/3/2017 8:32:00 PM - That's interesting to hear. I've been doing the same, but it sounds like I need to get into one of these sooner than later to see what's up.
Comment posted by ozyloy:

7/3/2017 9:34:00 PM - I'm sorry to hear that your experience so far with the '04 has not been that great.

I just had a bottle of this last week. Am way behind on my TNs, will post as soon as I can.. But anyway, the wine from my bottle remained a rich ruby, and the wine was improving with air and clearly still on the way up. There may have been a tad of translucence about the rim, but certainly no evidence of garnet or bricking.

Judging also by your experience of the previous bottle, if they were both from the same case, perhaps it is an issue of storage damage somewhere along the way?
Comment posted by gilrbo:

7/3/2017 11:38:00 PM - What's a "Brunello color"?
Comment posted by lolo66:

7/4/2017 9:00:00 AM - The 904 is truly an infant and will need a good 10-25 years to strut its stuff. That said, they can be enjoyed young with a long decant. try drinking a small glass, re-corking or vacu seal, store in fridge and drink the next day. The oak (which is exceedingly prevalent when young) should show some integration, and you should notice some of the finer nuances that this wine can show. I have had the 2004 recently and found it to be a beast of a wine.
I hope your next bottle of this is more enjoyable.
Comment posted by BigGDaddy:

3/1/2019 10:19:00 AM - So I've finally come across a few additional bottles of the 2004 and have added them to the collection. Also added 2010...I will sit on these a little bit longer. I've been drinking and loving the 05's and hope they are just as good if not better. We will see...