2004 La Rioja Alta Rioja Gran Reserva 904
Community Tasting Note
MrBrege wrote:
Saturday, January 6, 2018 - I bought a case of these due to the high scores and apparent great QPR. I guess I'm just not a great fan of fine Rioja. I can totally see why people like it; lots of fruit, quite intense, decent length. For me the acidity is too pronounced though, with the way the fruit feels at the very mature end of the spectrum (and even a bit jammy, not really to my taste) I don't think this will balance out over time. With food these impressions fade of course so I will have the rest of my bottles with some hardy stews and similar I think. Coming back to the slight jamminess of that fruit, I am wondering if it has something to do with the production process, they make this is pretty large quantities; I don't normally mind Tempranillo, in fact I like it a lot in anything from a Ribera del Duero to a good Douro, and I love their Alta Gran Reserva 890 (which is made in smaller batches). So it is tempting to think that this was an off-bottle, but since we had several, which just came out of bond just a week ago it's much more likely I just don't like this style, how disappointing...
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6 comments have been posted
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Comment posted by Sotto325:
1/6/2018 2:32:00 AM - These are young. And often unbalanced until they develop more age. If just out of bond, they need more time to settle. Try the 2001.
Comment posted by MrBrege:
1/6/2018 2:54:00 AM - Humm, not so sure about that; the fruit was getting old I think and the issues I had was not so much to do with being unbalanced. Also the GR890 I had recently was a 2005 and i very harmonious.
Comment posted by Tannatastic:
1/6/2018 6:04:00 AM - Are you sure the 890 you had was a 2005? I'm 99.9% certain that it's not been released yet (certainly not in the UK, at any rate).
And the 2004 vintage was quite robust - I don't know whether it was hotter (it tends to give denser wines) whilst 2005 is IMHO more classical, with higher acidity and more red fruits.
Comment posted by MrBrege:
1/6/2018 10:05:00 AM - Ha! Sorry, typo, same vintage i.e. 2004 is what I meant; had to just check my other bottles of this one now to be sure. In any case, that one is nice and balanced in my opinion, robust perhaps but very elegant while also intense.
Comment posted by Christian von Dresky:
1/6/2018 5:21:00 PM - The acidity of those wines is sometimes demanding but what if not that makes fro elegant wines and for wines with such an ageing potential. The pronounced acidity is one of the remarkable trademarks of classic Riojas and I love it. It is also the reason I cannot agree on your comment about the "jammy fruit", which I never tasted in a Rioja Alta. With this beautiful acidity cooked, jammy fruit is nearly impossible.
P.S.: What is the difference of a Ribera del Duero and a Duero.
Comment posted by MrBrege:
1/7/2018 1:12:00 AM - Christian, you can like whatever you wish, and weather or not you agree with me on anything is entirely irrelevant. Douro Valley, Portugal